PHILIPS' HISTORICAL READER 

NO. 2 



Early England 
TO Year 1154 




BOSTON SCHOOL SUPPLY CO. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Shelf .W.^..?.^ 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



yijUips' !f isloritnl H,isnit0r$, 



i/ 



EARLY ENGLAND 



THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE 
ACCESSION OF HENRY IL 

3 ,\-r<K-^l!»-^ ..,'-. 



HISTORICAL READER No. II. 







WITH lOO MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



BOSTON SCHOOL SUPPLY COMPANY, 
15 BROMFIELD STREET. 







THE LIBRARYt 

OF CONGRESS 

WASHINGTON 



[Copyright 18S4 by the Boston School Suppr.v Co , Boston, Mass.] 



PEEFACE. 




'ISTORY was long ago defined as " Philosophy 

teaching by examples," and its study certainly 

•/J^ tends not only to instruct the mind but to 

develop the moral sense. A faithful record of what 

has been done by our forefathers in England is full of 

the best lessons for American boys and girls. There is 

niucli not only to admire and love but also to sugfTest 

noble thoughts and stimulate to noble actions — much 

to remind us that 

" Not once or twice, in that rough island-story, 
The path of honoxir was the way to glory." 

In this History of "Early England" the aim has been to 
present clearly and accurately all tliat children can Avell 
understand of the events wliich led to the making and 
founding of the nation. That every word -picture be simple 
and graphic is most desirable, but it is not less important that 
the information given be reliable and systematic. 

Everything that could in any way enhance the educative 
value of the book has been done. The iext has been carefully 
graduated, and the style throughout is pure and vivid. The 
notes will be found useful, not only to the scholar, but also to 
the younger pupil-teachers, indicating to them the " line of 

a 



tJ preface. 

thought " which they should follow in their oral lessons. 
The illustrations are unusually numerous and attractive, and 
include an entirely new series of vignettes of sovereigns and 
other prominent persons. These finely-engraved heads are not 
mere fancy sketches but, with a few exceptions, are taken 
from authentic sources and therefore form a valuable series 
of historical portraits. The maps have been specially drawn 
for the work, and have been most carefujly edited. 

Some junior teachers may need to be reminded that " geo- 
graphy and chronology are the two eyes of history." Every 
lesson in history should therefore begin with some drilling in 
dates, and every place mentioned should be pointed out on 
the map and briefly described. 




BRITISH AND KOWAN WEAPONS 



CONTEXTS. 



rAuK 

I. Before the Dawn. 

LoNfj, Long AdO 9 

The Stone-Hatchet Men .. .. n 

The Bronze Age >■> 

The Coming op the Celts .. .. lo 

II. The Briton and the Roman. 

The Coming of the Romans .. 23 

The Druids 28 

Caradoc, the British Kino .. 32 

BoADicEA, the British (Jueen .. 36 

BiiA niCRA 39 

The Completion of the Roman 

CoNQi'EST 41 

A Pirate Wears THE PiiRPLF, .. 47 

Last Century of Roman Rule .. 49 

III. How Britain became 
England. 

The Coming of the English .. 53 

The Jutes 55 

The Saxons 59 

The Story of King Arthur .. 6j 
The Angles of the East and 

XORTH 66 

The Gods OF the Early English 71 
How the Early English became 

Christians 74 

The Story of Edwin of Nor- 
th umbria 78 

The Mercian Heathens .. .. 84 

How Wessex became Supreme .. 86 

The Danes 90 

IV. Alfred the Great and his 
Family. 

Alfred as Etheling or Prince 05 

King Alfred's Boyhood .. .. 07 

Kino Alfred Brave in Trouble 100 

A PliiyCE LiriSU AS A PKASA.Sr.. 104 

King Alfred Conquers the 
Danes, and Founds .4. Great 

Kingdom 105 



I rAOF. 

i The Story of Orphet's .. ..109 
' Stories ap.out Alfred the Great hi 
King Alfred and the New Danes 113 
The SiccEssoRs of Alfred— Ed- 
ward the Elder and Athel- 

STAN 117 

^ The Successors op Alfred— Ed- 

I MUND, EdRED, EdWY, AND 

Edgar .. 120 



V. The Danish Conquest. 

1 The Overthrow of the Saxons 
■ The Danish Kings of England— 
Cnut, Harold, and Hardi- 
CNUT 



VI. The English Restoration. 

An English King again on the 
Throne 131 

The Last op the Old English 
Kings 134 

Senlac AND ITS Sequel .. ..138 

How the English People lived 
IN the Olden Time .. ..142 



VII. England under the 
Normans. 

The Conqueror Crowned . . . - 147 
Conquest AND Cruelty .. ..150 

HeREWARD THE W.-iTCHFUL. . .. 154 

Changes made r.v the Conquest 157 

Close of the Conqueror's Reign 160 

The BvniAL OF TiiH C<ty(irKnon .. 164 

William Rufus and his Brothers i65 

The Red King in the Forest .. 170 

Henry Seizes the Crown .. .. 173 

The Wreck of the White Ship 176 

The Conqueror's Grandson .. 179 

The Civil War 183 

Life IN Nqrijan England .. .. 186 



MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



The Romans Leaving Britain 



Frnntispiece. 



British and Roman Weapons . . 
Roman Galleys at Londiniura . . 

British Coins 

Arch-druid 

Eskimos Watching for Seals 

Primitive Britain 

Savages of the Stone Age 

Stone Arrow-heads 

Stone Hatchet 

Flint Arrow-heads 

Bronze Knife-blade 

Celtic Coracle or Canoe 

An Early Celtic Stronghold 

British Shield 

Mai> nf Roman Britain 

The Roman Eagle 

Julius Ciesar, from a Bust in the 

British Museum 

l\Iai> Hill. tratitKi Ciesarx tivo Campaigns 
An Elephant Crossing the Thames . . 

A Druidical Sacrifice 

Stonehenge 

Caradoc, from a Bust in the British 

Museum 

Claudius in Britain 

Coin of Cunobelin 

Iloman Soldiers on the March . . 

Boadicea 

A Britisli Bard 

Ancient British Weapons 

Agrioola 

Caledonians Watching the Romans . . 

Roman Soldiers 

Map of Roman, ffalls 

Roman Galleys 

Carausius. from one of his Coins 
Coin of ( 'arausius .. .. 
Constantnie, from a Gold Coin 
M tji xli orinii the Routes of the Germanic 

Ini'oders 

The Standard of the White Horse— the 

.lutish Ensign 

Vortigern and Rowena 

Walls of Pevensey Castle 

Ruins of Arthur's Castle at Tintagel . . 

King Arthur 

Sir Bedivere and the Sword 

Bamborough Castle 

Map showinij the Saxon Kiiiydoms 

Rome 

St. Augustine 

St. Martin's Church. Canterbury 

Eilwin of Northmnbria 

Edinburgh Castle 

Uoiti Destroying the Temple of Wode^ 



P.\GK 
6 
9 
9 
9 

10 
12 



S^ 



95 



Ionic Cross 

Silver Penny of Off a 

Egbert 86 

Silver Penny of Egbert 88 

Danish Flag and Arms 90 

Danish Ships 91 

Map of Sajcon Enoland g^ 

Alfred, from a Silver Coin found at 

Oxford 

Alfred and the Queen 

Alfred and the Cakes 102 

Alfred's Jewel 105 

Alfred Writing the Story of Orpheus log 

Hastings and his Danes 115 

Athelstan 117 

Athelstan on the Field of Brunanburgh 1 18 

The Danes on the March . . . . 119 

Edgar . . 120 

Edgar on the Dee 122 

Sa.xon Soldiers 123 

The Death of Edward the Martyr . . 124 

Edward the Martyr 124 

Ethelred the Unready 125 

Cnut, from his Coinage 127 

Cnut at the Seashore 128 

Harold Hare-foot 130 

Hardicnut 130 

Edward the Confessor, from the 

Bayeaux Tapestry 131 

Arms of Edward the Confessor 
Harold, from the Bayeaux Tapestry . . 
The Landing of the Normans . . 
Edith Searching for the Body of 

Harold 

A Saxon Teaching his Boy to use the 

Cross-Bow 

Anglo-Saxon Costumes i , _ 

William the Con(iueror, from the 

Bayeaux Tapestry 147 

The Normans on the March . . . . 151 

The Tower of London 153 

William and his Son Robert . . . . 162 

The Burial of the Conqueror . . . . 161; 

William Rufus, from his Coinage . . 166 

The Messenger Warning Rufus .. 171 

Henry I., from Coin in British Museum 173 

The Wreck of the White Ship . . . . 177 
Stephen, from a Silver Coin of his 

Reign 179 

The Battle of the Standard— the Arch- 
bishop of York blessing the Troops 180 

Escape of Matilda 185 

The Ceremony of Knighting .. .. 188 

A Lady Hawking 191 

A Tournament 192 



132 
134 
138 

140 
142 





^ Roman Galleys 

^ AT 

JONDI NIUM 



•^KlTISH COIN; 



BEFORE THE DA WN. 

LONG, LONG AGO. 

LONG, long ago, the name 'EnglcmcV^ 
' was quite unknown, and sucli 
words as ^English ' and ' Welsh "" w^ere 
never heard of. But the country 
^RCH -Druid itself was there, though it was not 

called England : and it is a most interestino- study to 
hnd out something about its earliest inhabitants — the 
people who lived here before a single town or road or 
bridge could anywhere be seen. 

We know of three names which have been given 



lo EARLY ENOLAND. .^ 

to the country ; — (i) Albion,^ or Alban ; (2) Britain,'^ 
the name used by the Romans ; and (3) England, the 
present name, which it has borne for about a thousand 
years. But long before the words England, Britain, 
or Albion were used, in the dark ages before the dawn 
of history,^ when all the countries of Europe were still 
in a savaofe state, the island was the liome of a rude 
and barbarous people. 




ESKIMOS WATCHING FOR BKALS. 



The Men of the Caves. — Have you read about the 
patient Laplanders,^ wlio live with their reindeer in the 
far north, or the Eskimos,' who hunt the seal and walrus 
in the icy regions of Arctic America ? Strange as it 
may appear, in England there once dwelt a ^ace of 
men probably less civilised than these simple people. 
There are abundant proofs that the earliest inhabitants 
of the island lived, not in houses or even huts, but iu 

a 



LONG, LONG AGO. il 

caves. Such cave-dwellings liave been found in Devon, 
Somerset, Denbigh, Yorkshire, and elsewhere. 

In the time of these cave-men, the land was one of the 
wildest imaginable. Inland, where now we see fertile 
farms and beautiful parks, there were only far-ex- 
tending trackless forests, dreary moors, wide marshes, 
morasses, and reedy lakes. The simple cave-men never 
dared to explore the immense forests, because of the 
savage animals which then infested them. Amongst 
these were not only the wolf,^ the elk,^ the brown and 
the grisly bear, but there also were the tiger (larger 
than those now shot in India), the hya?na, and, in the 
very earliest times, the rhinoceros and elephant. 

At Salisbury alone, the bones of elephant, rhinoceros, 
hytena, lion, and reindeer have been found. That the 
climate was extremely cold when the deposit was made, 
is proved by the fact that along with those were the 
remains of the marmot, the lemming, and some egg- 
shells of the wild goose. The height of the drift, more- 
over, being from ninety to one hundred feet above the 
existing Avon, shows what an enormous time has 
elapsed since the period in question. ''' 

On the rivers, again, thousands of otters could be 
seen diving for fish, and beavers building their curious 
houses, while seals and occasionally whales swam on 
every coast. 

Being no match for the wild animals of the forest, the 
cave-man was content to live near the sea — his food 
being chiefly the flesh of the reindeer, such fish as he 
could kill with the rudest of harpoons and hooks, and 
oysters and other shell-fish gathered on the shore. 

It is remarkable that in some of the caves we find 
* See Reports of Brit. Assoc, for August 1S82, 



12 EARLY ENGLAND. 

drawings of leaves and animals scratched on bone,"'" some 
really showing considerable taste ; and this is another 
point of resemblance between these early cave-men and 
the Eskimos. For shelter in winter, besides the caves, 
they probably dug holes in the ground, roofing them 
with turf. In summer, it seems likely that they lived 
in tents of skins, as some of the Eskimos still do. Their 
clothes also were made of skins ; and doubtless they had 
canoes covered with the same material. 



1. England, i.e., ' land of the Angles, or Engles.' 

See page 66. 

2. Welsh, the name given by the Saxons to the 

Britons. Tlie word wealias signifies ' for- 
eigner' or 'stranger.' The same term is 
applied by the modern Germans to tlie 
people of Italy and France. The Welsh call 
themselves I'tnnry. 

3. Albion, the oldest name of onr country. It 

is a Celtic word, meaning 'white island.' 
It is akin to the Latin word albus and to 
Alp, cf. tlie Alps. The tvhite cliffs of Kent 
are clearly seen from the opposite coast of 
France. 

4. Britain. The old British name Prydain was 

Latinised into Britannia. It is probably 
derived from the word ' brith,' i.e., spotted 
or painted (see page '21). Other derivations 
are given. 

5. Dawn of history. The first mention of 

Britiin is made by Herodotus, the father 
of Greek history, who wrote about 450 B.C. 
He admits that he knew nothing more 



than that it was an island, and that It pro- 
duced tin. 

6. The Laplanders, a Mongolian race. Inhabit 

the most northern portion of Europe. 

7. The Eskimos are also Mongolians, and are 

akin to the Samoiedes of Siberia. 

8. The wild boar, bear, and wolf were at this 

period, and for ages after, common in this 
country. Macaulay says tnat wolf-lmnting 
was enumerated among the common sports 
of Kerry as late as 1719. The s.avage brood 
had been finally expelled from the forests 
of Great Britain during the preceding cen- 
tury. See also page 1'21.' 

9. Many remains prove that formerly the elka 

were very much larger than any species 
now existing. One skull in the British 
Museum measures a yard in length, and 
the span of the horns is 42 inches. 
10. Beautifully-coloured drawings of animals 
are said to be frequently seen on the walls 
of the caves of the Bushmen— the cave-men 
of South Africa. 




PRIMITIVE BRITAIN. 



THE STONE- HATCHET MEN. 



13 




SAVAGES OF THE STONE AGE. 



THE STONE -HATCHET MEN. 

AFTER many thousands of seals had been killed and 
millions of shell-fish had been eaten, we find that 
the cave-men entirely disappeared from the country. The 
new-comers were small men, but they were superior to 
the seal-hunters, for they were skilful in making and 
using stone weapons,^ especially axes or hatchets and 
adzes. Their axes were made of a very hard stone, 
neatly sharpened and sometimes polished, and firmly 
fastened to a handle of wood. 

We find also that they made stone hammers, bone 
and flint knives, flint chisels and gouges, flint heads for 
arrows and spears ; but the stone-hatchd was their prin- 
cipal weapon. With it, they cut down trees — using 



14 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



the timber for canoes and oars, spades and other imple- 
ments, handles to spears and harpoons, as well as for 
building houses. 

With so many new weapons, the stone-hatchet man 

could kill ani- 
mals that the 
cave-man had 
no courage to 





STONE ARBOW-HEADS. 



SION'K-HATCHET. 



face. But what was of more importance, 
he began to be a farmer as well as a 
hunter, and grew wheat, barley, and millet 
to make his bread. Many rude hand-mills, 
Avith which the women ground the corn, 
have been discovered in various localities. 
Some of the more ingenious among them were able 
even to weave and knit ; and, in our museums,^ we may 
see pieces of linen cloth belonging to that early age, as 
well as distaffs ^ and whorls '^ used by the women in 
spinning the thread for making the cloth. In their 
hurying-places and houses we also find rude earthen- 
ware cups, generally of a black or brown colour. 
Several of their canoes have been found, some con- 
taining stone axes and harpoons. One was dug up 
near the Firth of Forth, with the skeleton of a whale 
close beside it. 

The stranorest things about the stone-hatchet men is 
that the tombs which they made for their chiefs and 
great men were built of such huge heavy stones that 
everybody wonders how they were raised up and con- 
veyed to the spot. Imagine an immense block, forty 
feet long, split from some rock, moved for miles across 
a rough country ; and then raised on end to be fixed in 
a deep hole in the ground, where, for thousands of years, 



THE STONE-HATCHET MEN. 



IS 



it has remained iipriglit as you now see it. It is even 
believed that they erected part, at least, of Stonehenge^ 
itself, one of the grandest " rude stone monuments " 
in the world. 

Many of their tombs have been found, some consisting 
of three large stones placed on edge beside each other, 
with a flat one on the top covering the whole. ^ When 
the dead chief or father of a tribe was laid within, his 
stone-hatchet, several spears, and sometimes a favourite 
dog or horse, were buried with him. His family and 
the rest of the tribe heaped earth and stones over the 
whole so as to form a large mound. 

Another curious point about the stone-age men is 
that, though so much stronger than the cave-men and 
superior in various ways, they had nothing of the taste 
or skill in drawing which we find in sketches of the 
reindeer and elephant left by the seal-hunters. 



1. stone-weapons and implements have been 

fiiinrl in almost all parts of the world. 

2. Museum. The first institution of this kind 

is said to have been founded about B.C. 
280. in Al(>.Nandria. in Egypt. 

3. Distaff, that is, tow-sfaJT—fhe staff to which 

the lium.h of flax or tmc is tied, and from 
which the thread is drawn in spinning. 

i. Whorl, the reel on which the thread is wound. 

5. Stonehenge, ,\. S., 'hnnging-stones 'on S.alis- 
bury Plain, iiiWilts. consisted of two circles 
of vast stones. Of the outer ring seventeen 
are still upright. Within the inner circle, 



there is a large flat stone, which is often 
called the altar. It is usually believed to bo 
the remains of a Druidic.al temple. Some 
recent writers a.ssert that it was intended 
for astronomical purposes. Geoffrey of 
Monmouth s.ays tliat Aurelian Amhrosius 
erected it in memory of the 300 Britons 
who were m.assacred here by the Saxons 
in 4.S0. See page 31. 
6. Called cromlechs. These are found in diffe- 
rent parts of Europe. In our country they 
are most numerous in Anglesey and other 
parts of Wales. 




FLINT ARROW-HEADS. 



i6 EARLY ENGLAND. 



THE BRONZE AGE. 

YOU have seen what changes were made by the use 
of stone-hatchets and other flint implements, but 
a still greater improvement took place when bronze ^ be- 
came common. Look at a penny-piece ! That is made 
of bronze — an alloy ^ or mixture of copper and tin ^ — 
which was most useful to man before he knew how to 
work iron. 

It is a curious fact that when the stone-age men were 
using their hatchets, there was plenty of tin and copper 
in this country untouched, because no one had yet shown 
them liow to make bronze. How did the men of those 
early times become acquainted with this valuable and 
useful substance ? 

Those who have read about King Solomon may re- 
member that, when he wished to build a great temple 
in Jerusalem, he was glad to be assisted by the people 
of Tyre^ who were more skilful than the Jews. 

Tyre was a large and wealthy city of Phoenicia^ a 
country bordering on Solomon's kingdom, and the Tyrians 
Avere then the best craftsmen and most enterprising mer- 
chants in the world. They founded a great colony at 
Carthage,^ in Africa, and another at Cadiz,' in Spain ; so 
that almost all the commerce of Europe was in their 
hands. 

Hearing that there was tin in some islands beyond 
Spain, the merchants of Tyre and Carthage sailed west, 
past the Pillars of Hercules,^ and then turning north 
along the coast, reached the ' Tin Islands.' ^ Thus 
the tin from our country went to make bronze for 
the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the early 



THE BRONZE AGE. 17 

Italians, and others ; while at the same time it became 
known to the men of this land. 

The people of Tyre used much bronze to decorate 
their temples and public buildings. In the British 
Museum ^^ there are two handsome gates of bronze which 
were brought to this country from the ruins of Tyre. 
These gates are covered with groups of figures, which 
show how busy and important the city of Tyre was in 
those early days when Phoenicia was one of the fore- 
most of nations. 

Throughout England, innumerable tools, weapons, 
and ornaments of the bronze age have been found, and 
good specimens rs^-'v 

may be seen in S^^X-- "ri^r rrr -*^ ^ 

almost every t^ i^^'^ jLtv:.^^^^^ ^ -TJ^-^^^ .*'-'' 
museum. Most ^^mif^-i^^^^V^''''^ 
of the bronze li'^ 

1 BRONZE KNIFK-BLADE. 

swords are so 

small that they seem intended for boys, which is a proof 

that the men of that time were small in size. 

Besides those found in gi'aves and houses, large 
numbers of bronze articles have sometimes been found 
together in one spot, evidently belonging to some mer- 
chant who had brought them for exchange, perhaps 
from Carthage or Cadiz. Thus, in a peat-bog near 
Parsonstown in Ireland, there was found in 1848 a 
collection of nearly a hundred bronze articles, including 
thirteen trumpets, twenty-nine spear-heads, thirty-one 
bells, three gouges, and several large vessels. 

"We cannot say exactly when bronze was first known 
in Britain, but men of science now conclude that it was 
used for not less than ten centuries before the introduc- 
tion of iron. 

a. 2) B 



1 8 EARLY ENGLAND. 

Some workmen of tlie bronze age liave left us beauti- 
ful ornaments in amber, jet, and gold. In a Wiltshire 
grave was found a bronze dagger, the wooden handle of 
which is inlaid with thousands of minute gold pins. An 
amber dagger-pommel from Devon is also beautifully 
inlaid with gold. On the preceding page, you see a 
picture of one of their ornamented bronze knife-blades. 

It would take long to tell all the changes and im- 
provements which resulted from tlie use of bronze 
implements instead of stone ones. The people of the 
southern parts of the island were no longer mere savages. 
The arts of spinning and weaving were known ; and the 
dog, ox, sheep, goat, pig and the horse had been domes- 
ticated. Corn was grown, and was reaped with bronze 
sickles. Though unacquainted with the potter's wheel, 
they could make earthenware vessels of various kinds. 
Their huts were probably made of interlaced boughs 
smeared over with mud. 

Before the end of the bronze period, the small dark 
race of whom yon have read as stone-hatchet men (some- 
times called Iberians ^^) was replaced by quite a different 
people, more civilised than any that had yet settled in 
the land. Who were these new-comers ? 



1. Bronze is fdrmotl of tin and copper in the 

liroportion of about 1 to 10. 
'J. Alloy, a mixture of two or more metals. 

'I'lie word is derived from the Latin ligo, 

to liiml. 

3. In tliis country, copper and tin belong <;hiefly 

(tlic latter entirely) to Devon and Corn- 
wall. 

4. Tyre was also famous for its beautiful clotli, 

Tyiiau piu'ple being a colour which could 
be V orn only by kings and emperors. 

6. Phoenicia is the Greek name of tlie country, 
and means tlie M.and of the date palm.' 
The jieople themselves called it Clina, that 
is, ' Canaan,' the ' low land,' incontradis- 
tinction to Aram, the 'high land.' 

6. Carthage was founded by a Tyrian colony, 
and soon rose to be tlio greatest commer- 



cial city of ancient times. The three great 
' I'unie, wars ' with the Romans ended in 
its total destruction by order of the Koiiiau 
Sinati'. The ruins of the once great rival 
of Home are 10 miles north-east of Tunis. 

7. Cadiz, now an important post on the south- 

west coast of Sjiain, near the moutli of 
the Gu.idnlquivir. A Phfenician colony 
settled there ivbout 1100 D.c. 

8. Pillars of Hercules. The two great pro- 

montories on eitlier side of the Str.iits of 
Cibrallar, Mounts Calpe and Abyla (now 
(iibr.alt,ar and Spartel), were so called by 
the Greeks. Their story was that Hercules 
in his journey westward found his way 
barred by a huge rock, and that he rent it 
in twain, .allowing thu ocean to rush in. 

9. Tin Islands, first mentioned by Herodotus 



THE COMlNa OF THE CELTS. 



»9 



Under the name Cas^iterides, — now gene- 
rally believed to be the Scilly Isles, off 
I^mds End. 
10. British Museum, the grand national col- 
lection of antiquities, Ac, in London, 
founded in IToC. 



ll. Iberians. The Latin historian. Tacitus, 
speaks of a tribe in Wales with swarthy 
skin and black curly hair, -whom he sup- 
posed to be a colony from a similar peopla 
in Spain called Iberi. 




CELTIC CORACLE OR CANOE. 



THE COMING OF THE CELTS. 

H E new warriors 
who camo pouring 
over to settle on 
the island, were the 
first of the Celtio 
invaders. 

There were four 
great conquests of 
the country : first, 
by the Celts, who 
called it Albion ; second, by the liomans, who called it 
Britain ; third, by our forefathers, who sailed over from 
North Germany and called the land England ; and fourth, 
by the A^rmans,^ who came over from France and de- 
feated the English, but allowed the country to be still 
called England. To be quite exhaustive, we should add 
the invasion by the Danes' — making in all Jive great 
conquests. 

The first conquest was a double invasion, because 
there were two Celtic races who came over from the 
Continent — the second more powerful than the first. 
The first Celts were taller than the ' Iberians ' of the 
bronze age, and had fair complexions and blue eyes. 
They seem to have called themselves Alhanach, the men 
of Albion ; and when driven before the stronger race of 
Celts who came next, many of them sailed westward to 



20 EARLY ENGLAND. 

Ireland, and others took refuge in the northern moun- 
tains of Scotland. 

The second Celts were probably darker in complexion 
than those whom they supplanted. They belonged to 
a much larger section of the race, then spread over all 
the countries in the west of Europe. They called them- 
selves Cymry'^ but those who held this country were 
generally called Britons — a name by which they were 
known to the Komans. 




AN EARLY CELTIC STROXGHOLP. 



Now how did those British Celts become masters of 
the whole country, excepting the great forests that 
still covered some inland districts ? Their knowledge 
of iron and the working of metals gave them great 
power over the other islanders. They were not only 
better warriors, but excelled them in farming, hunting, 
and fishing ; built better houses, ships, and canoes ; and 
began to have so much trade with merchants from the 



THE COMING OF THE CELTS. 



Continent, that we find money of theirs which was coined 
by themselves, and used for buying and selling, before 
the Roman conquest. 

If you ask when bronze was first replaced by iron, 
the only answer is, that iron is thought to have been 
known in South Britain about four hundred years before 
the Romans came. 

During the time of the Celtic Britons, therefore, we 
find so great an advance made in industry and com- 
merce that it is quite a mistake to call them ' savages.' 
Tliey wore trousers, a tunic fastened with a belt, and 
occasionally a plaid "^ thrown over their shoulders. Some 
tribes, in the more rugged and woody parts, wore skins 
of animals — a dress better suited for tracking" the wild 
boar or red deer through the dense forests and pathless 
moors. In the northern districts, however, there still 
remained some barbarous tribes, whose warriors, like the 
South-Sea islanders ^ of the present day, prided them- 
selves on the blue tattoo-marks ^ which had been traced 
all over their arms, breasts, and faces. 



1. Normans, the peopli> of Xui 

mandy— Morseinen from tli 
coast of Noiw ay, w lii> ii 
<lerRi)lIo had iiivadLd 
Fr.ani'e and fom d 
the king to ced 
one of his north 
ern province'? to 
them. See page 
U7. 

2. Danes, the people 

of Denmark, whu 
invaded and fin 
ally occupied tli 
whole of England 
east of \\ athi 
Street and north of 
the Thames. See p. 
»0. 




3. Cymry, c ailed by the Saxons 
W eKh 

Flald, a loose outer 
garment , still worn by 
the Si ottish High- 
I.anders 

'> South Sea la- 
lands, the A'ast m>il- 
tituiles of islands 
SI ittered through- 
1 ut the Pacific 
1 1( ean. 

iI. Tattoo-marks, fig- 

urts made on tho 

skin by st.ains or 

punctures. The Bri- 

ns stiuied their bodies 

«ith the juice of a plant 

called wuad. 



4 BRITISH SHIELD, 



ROMLO" BBITAIIS' 




OCEANUS .:- 



G A^L L I A 



THE COMING OF THE ROMANS. 



23 




THE Human eaule. 



//. THE BRITON AND THE ROMAN. 
THE COMING OF THE ROMANS. 

^E have seen how the Celts 
had introduced many im- 
provements into the 
country, and also how they 
were strong enough to be- 
come masters of the land 
wherever they went. But a 
much stronger race of war- 
riors was now about to land 
— a race which the British 
Celts could not hope to resist 
successfully. 

The new-comers, now 
rowino- over in their galleys towards the white cliffs of 
Kent, are Bomans, the best soldiers in the world ; and 
the man at their head is Julim Cccsar,^ the conqueror of 




JULIUS CfiSAK. 



24 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



Gaul — a general so famous that many consider him supe- 
rior to Alexander the Great ' or Napoleon Bonaparte.^ 

Compared with the huge ' transports ' * of the present 
da}", the galleys ^ of those days were but poor affairs, for 
it took more than eighty to carry over the two Roman 
legions — a small army of about nine or ten thousand 
men. When, in ready response to the stirring appeal 
of the standard-bearer of the tenth legion, they leapt 
into the Avater, clad in sflisteninsf helmet and shininsj 
breastplate, one could see, as they formed in companies 
and drew their sharp and heavy swords, that they had 
been well drilled for the work of slaughter. 

Now why did the British Celts not defeat this little 

army ? They cer- 
tainly offered a 
desperate and well- 
nigh successful re- 
sistance to the land- 
ing of the Romans, 
and stoutly opposed 
their advance in- 
land ; but they were broken up into so many tribes, 
and their chiefs and kings had so many quarrels amongst 
themselves, that they scarcely ever remained long united. 
Still the Romans fovmd much more difficulty than they 
had expected in subduing the ' barbarians,' *" as they 
called them. 

One day, Caesar ordered a detachment " of his soldiers 
to go to a field which had been discovered at some dis- 
tance from the camp, and mow the corn which was 
growing there. When busy cutting the corn, the soldiers 
were surprised by a large number of British warriors ; 
and all would have been killed had not Ceesar come to 
their reseue with the rest of the legionaries.® 




THE COMING OF THE ROMANS. 



25 



The Komans were greatly dismayed by the strange 
war-chariots which some of the bravest Celts used. 
These terrible chariots had long sharp blades project- 
ing from the axle ; and, like the rush of a torrent, 




ELEPHANT CROSSING THE THAMES. 



they swept through the enemy's ranks — their paths 
marked by lines of dead and wounded. 

Caesar himself tells us of the wonderful skill shown 
by the British charioteers, dashing swiftly to and fro, 



26 EARLY ENGLAND. 

quickly wlieeling in any direction, or urging* their horses 
at full speed down a hill or along a precipice. When 
a chariot had broken through the Roman ranks, one 
warrior would quickly leap down, sword in hand, and 
attack the enemy, while the driver turned the horses 
round and waited a little distance oft' to assist his com- 
panion to escape. 

Having lost some of his p-alleys, and findinQ^ it ab- 
solutely necessary to employ a larger army, Ca3sar only 
stayed a few days in Britain on his first visit. The 
following year he returned with five legions, including two 
thousand horse-soldiers ; and as they filled no less than 
eight hundred ofallevs, von can imagine the wonder of 
the Britons in Kent when they saw such a vast fleet 
sailing towards their coast. 

Caesar fought several battles in Kent, but continued 
his march inland till he came to the river Thames. The 
Celtic Britons united their forces under a chief called Cas- 
wallon, who was determined to hinder the Roman army 
from crossing the Thames. Before Caesar I'eached the 
river, the Britons had cut a large number of sharp-pointed 
oak stakes, and had fixed them in the bed of the river. 

That, however, did not stop the Romans. One 
account of their crossing is, that they had brought an 
elephant with them from the Continent. When it 
marched in front of the legions and stepped into the 
water, the simple Britons were struck with terror ; and, 
as the huge animal, with a tower on his back full of 
armed men, swam towards them, they took to flight, 
Caesar then marched towai;ds the place where St. Albans 
now is, for there the Britons had a town — that is, a 
cluster of round huts in the midst of a wood, defended 
by a deep ditch and a high bank of earth with a strong 
wooden fence on the top. These defences were soon 



THE COMING OF THE ROMANS. 27 

forced, and Caswallon was taken prisoner and compelled 
to accept Caesar's terms. 

Caesar has given us a description of Britain as it 
was two thousand years ago — the first written account 
we have of our country. The people had skill as 
smiths and carpenters; they wore cloth of their own 
weaving ; they grew corn to sell to merchants from the 
Continent, and used to store their grain in dry caves and 
pits. They had herds of cattle, and their active little 
horses astonished the Romans as they dashed furiously 
amongst them with the dreaded wai'-chariot. 

The inland parts of Britain and many northern dis- 
tricts were very thinly peopled ; but Caesar himself tells 
us that in the south " the buildings were exceedingly 
numerous and tlie number of people countless." 

When Ciesar returned to Rome, he was honoured 
with a ' triumph ' — that is, a grand procession with his 
army through the principal streets ; and, in memory of 
Ins two visits to our country, he hung up in one of the 
great temples at Rome a shield studded with British 
pearls. But he " did not conquer Britain, he only 
showed it to the Romans." 



1. Julius Caesar, the fn"e!itest of tlie Roman 

fri'iifiiils, born 100 B.C., first invaded 
I'.ritaiii 55 B.C. He had conquered Gaul 
and also subdued Spain. He was assas- 
sinated in the Senate House at Rome, n.c. 
44. Tlie portrait at the head of the lesson 
is from a bust iu tlie British Museum. 

2. Alexander the Great, the greatest con- 

queror the wurld has ever seen. Born B.C. 
35 i. He founded the jireat Macedonian 
empire, which exteud.-d to Egypt on the 
south and to India on the east. Though 



nations," and third at Waterloo, when all 
Knrope was rising indignantly against 
hiui. He ended his days in exile at .si. 
Helena. 

4. Transports, large vessels used for carryhig 
tro„ps. 

5. Galleys, low flat-built vessels having sails 
and oars. 

G. Barbarians. The Greeks called any people 
whose language they could not luidi-r- 
staTid, ' barbaroi,' which was .simply an 
imitation (ba-ba, &c.) of the unintelligible 

lie had conquered so many countries, he i sounds which foreigners seemed to make 

was only 33 years of age at his death. j in speaking. 

;. Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, i 7. Detachment, a body of troops detached or 

the most famous conqueror of modern I separated from the main army for some 

times. He was born A. P. 1769 in Corsica. I special service. 

After many brilliant victories, he became I 8. Legionaries, the men of a Roman 'legion.' 

master of all Europe ; but at Last suffered A legion consisted of infantry, cavalry. 

three great defeats — first in Kussi.i, and engineers, and numbered from 3000 to 

second at Leipsic, the gie t 'battle of 6000 men. 



2S 



EARLY ENGLAND. 




A DRUIDICAL SACRIFICE. 



THE DRUIDS. 

THE religion of the Britons, called Druidi.<!m,^ was a 
strong and well-ordered system. Under a snpreme 
ruler, the all-powerful Arch-druid," were numerous Priests, 
spread over the whole country and arranged in regular 
bodies or colleges.^ This order performed the solemn 
duties of sacrifice and directed the worship of the gods. 
In addition to these, there were inferior classes of Bards 
and Prophets,* who sang to the harp hymns to the gods 
and ballads in praise of their heroes and chiefs. 

The Druids were not only the priests, but were also 
the judges and lawgivers of the Britons. They tried 
all accused of crime, and decided disputes between indi- 
viduals and tribes. Whoever refused to obey their 
decisions was excommunicated ^ from society and refused 



THE DRtJIBS. 29 

the protection of the law. So great was their power that 
they kept the sacred treasure in woods and groves, with 
" no other guard than the terrors of their religion." 
Thus, even in those early ages, no man could be "a 
law unto himself." 

These priests and lawgivers were also the men of 
learning and the teachers of the people. Even from 
Gaul,^ all who wished to know the ' mysteries ' ' of Druid- 
ism came over to sit at the feet of the British priests. 
Thousand of verses had to be learned by heart ; for it 
was unlawful to vjrite the ' secret things.' It is said 
that even twenty years were not thought too long to 
acquire all that the Druids could teach. These verses 
contained much information about the earth with its 
animals and plants, the motions of the sun and moon, 
the countless stars, and the infinite universe. 

More important than all, they impressed upon the 
hearts of the learners the thoughts of the wise concern- 
ing the power and rule of the gods. These old Britons 
worshipped many deities,^ but especially adored the Sun 
— the Fire-God, Giver of light and heat. They seem 
also to have reached a dim idea that all had sprung 
from one Supreme Being, the ruler and judge of the 
whole world. 

The Druids taught that the soul of man was immor- 
tal,^ and that the dead had to answer to the gods for the 
deeds of the past. Courage, piety, hospitality, honesty, 
and truthfulness were among the virtues most valued. 

If any one had lived a perfect life, they said that he at 
once passed into the divine land. If the man had been 
vile and wicked, then the soul was compelled to dwell 
in a succession of the lowest animals, and suffered great 
pain and a long period of degradation. ^° If the man 



30 EARLY ENGLAND. 

had been good but not perfect, then his soul had to enter 
but a few animals of the nobler kind before it received 
forgiveness from the gods. 

Such were the teachings of these old British priests. 
Amid much that was false, can we not see some traces 
of a yearning after the true and the good ? 

Caesar tells us some curious things about the Druids. 
They used to live in groves of oak, and they so vene- 
rated that tree that they never ottered up a sacrificf^ 
without using some of its leaves. They said tliat what- 
ever grew upon it was divine ; any mistletoe-phxnt found 
on it was held to be very sacred, and believed to possess 
the marvellous power of healing all diseases. 

On their New Year's Day,^^ a solemn procession of 
priests and people was made to any oak-tree on which 
the holy plant had been seen growing — the priests being 
clothed in white, and the people following them in silence. 
When two white bulls had been bound by the horns to 
the oak, the Arch-druid cut the mistletoe ^^ with a golden 
knife, while another received the sacred plant in his 
Avhite robe. Then the bulls were sacrificed ; and, when 
all the ceremonies were over, the priests and people 
feasted together in honour of the great event. 

Besides bullocks and sheep, it is certain that the 
Druids offered up human sacrifices. Ca?sar says they 
believed that the gods could not be conciliated ^^ unless 
the life of one man were offered for another. But 
that seems to have been done in most countries at 
one time or another. In the Bible we learn that the 
Jews did the same thing when they were still partly 
barbarous ; and we know that in many countries the 
Romans had to put down this custom by law, just as 
England has had to do in Hindustan.^ ^ 

"Who were the victims chosen by the Druids ? They 



THE DRUIDS. 



were principally prisoners of war and men ayIio had been 
condemned to death for some crime. They were put to 
death in a cruel manner. It is said that a large imago 
was made by plaiting wickerwork or straw, and that 
the victims were enclosed in it to be burnt as a 
sacrifice. On great occasions the figure was so broad 
and deep that cattle and other annuals as well as men 
were all roasted together. One of the Greek writers 
tells us that instead of burning their victims, the Uruidhj 
sometimes ordered them to be crucified, and at other 
times to be shot to death with arrows. 



1. Druidism, the religion of tlie Druids. The 

word druid is derived from the Wclsli 
dniriidd, an oak, and is akin to tlic Greek 
word drus. Cf. En.;lish. tree. 

2. Arch-druid, the cliief Druid. Arch is from 

the (ireek archos, first, ehief. 
Z. College, a hody or society of men bound 
togetlier for the promotion of leariiinjf or 
reli^rlon. 

4. Prophets, properly Vates. They were the 

tt-acliers of tlie people. 

5. Excommunicated, put out of, driven out 

from. 
ti. Gaul, the ancient name of France. In 

speaking of the French people, the phrase 

' our Gallic neighbours ' is still often 

used. 
7. Mysteries, secrets revealed only to the 



initiated, and about which they had to 
keep silent. 

Deities, gods. Latin deiis, a god. 

Immortal, not mortal, never-dying. 

Degradation, disgrace, debasement. 

New Year's day, then the 10th of March, not 
the l£t of January. The change from tliu 
Old to the New Style wa.s made in 157-'. 
and has been adojited by all European 
nations except the Kussians. 

Mistletoe, a parasitical plant or shrub which 
grows on various trees, but most fre- 
quently on the oak. 

Conciliated, to win the favour of, to pacify. 

Hindustan, or India, the country of tha 
Hindus. One of the customs put down by 
the Knglish was tlie Suttee or buridng of 
the wile on her Imsbaiid's funeral pile. 




STONEHIiNGE, GENERALLY BKI.IEVED TO BE A DRUIDICAL TEMPLE. 

(See note 5, p. 15.) 



32 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



HARADOC, THE BRITISH KING. 




Ti^^FTER Julius Ceesar was dead, 

Jl^P^ Augustus ^ became ruler of 

J the Roman Empire. He was 



^ the greatest of the emperors ; 
and in his time, when all the 
world was at peace, Jesus 
Christ was born in Judasa. 
That event marked the be- 
ginning of the Christian 
era." 

In A.D.^ 43, after nearly 
a hundred years' absence, 
cARADoc. ^iip Romans again invaded 

Britain. They were led by Aulvs Plautius, who had 
been sent by the Emperor Ckcudius^ He pushed on 
to the Thames, and was there joined by the Emperor. 
Together they crossed the river and took Camulodmmm,^ 
where they founded a Roman colony — the first in 
Britain. 

The Emperor then returned to Rome and received a 
'triumph.' His generals had still much fighting Avith 
the Britons ; but, in a few years, the Roman legionaries 
and their eagles were to be seen, not only south of the 
Thames, but along the east coast as far north as the 
Humber, and even in the Severn valley on the west. 

In the country now called Wales, however, there was 
a British chief called Garadoc,^ who led his patriotic band 
with such bravery, that he might well be compared to 
William Wallace '' or William Tell. So resolutely did 
Caradoc and his men defend themselves in that land 



CARADOC, THE BRITISH KING. 



33 



of mountains, that the Eoman legionaries took eight 
years to subdue them. 

In Shropshire, the memory of his name SlxiI remains ; 
for the scene of his last battle against the invader — 
a hill where he had an entrenched fort — is called to 
this day Caer-Caradoc or Caradoc's Castle. Here, as 
elsewhere, British valour could not withstand Roman 
skill and discipline. Caradoc fled to his stepmother, 
Cartismandua, Queen of the Brigantes,^ by whom he 




CLACDIUS IN BRITAIN. 



was basely betrayed into the hands of his enemies. The 
Romans spared his life in order that he might be shown 
to the Emperor at Rome. 

So the brave Caradoc was taken through Gaul to 
Italy, and when the day came for the ' triumph,' he 
was led in the procession through the streets of Rome — 
then the richest and grandest city in the world. 



" Though through the crowded streets of Rome, 
With slow and steady tread, 





(H. 2.) 



34 EARLY ENGLAND. 

Far from his own loved island home, 

That day in triumph led — 
Unbowed his head, unbent his knee, 
Undimmed his eye, his aspect free." 

As tlie captives gazed on the marble pillars, the beauti- 
ful arches and statues, and the lofty temples and palaces, 
Caradoc said it was very strange that the Romans, living 
amid such splendour, should envy the poor huts of the 
Britons. When brought before the Emperor Claudius, 
he showed no trace of fear, no desire for mercy. 

" And now he stood with brow serene, 

Where slaves might prostrate fall, 
Bearing a Briton's manly mien 

In Caesar's palace-hall ; 
Claiming, with kindled lirow and cheek, 
The liberty, even there, ti^ speak." 

While his friends and family knelt and prayed for 
pity, he stood so calm and silent, and yet so like a 
king, that Claudius and the Empress were struck with 
admiration. He looked steadfastly at the Emperor ; 
and, in reply to some questions, spoke in manly and 
noble tones, as if untouched by misfortune and undaunted 
by the fear of death. 

" Think not, thou eagle lord of Rome, 

And master of the world, 
Though victory's banner o'er thy dome 

In triumph be unfurled, 
I would address thee as thy slave. 
But as the bold should greet the brave." 

His dignified bearing saved his life. With a sudden 



CARADOC, THE BRITISH KING. 



35 



impulse of generosity, Claudius instantly ordered Caradoc 
and his family to be set free. This was a noble action 
of the great Emperor. 

" The conqueror was the captive then, — 
He bade the slave be free a^ain." ^ 



1 . Augustus became emperor B. c. 27,and reigned 

for forty-one years. Although Julius 
Caesar was not made emperor, Augifttus 
and ;ill Ills successors took the name of 
Ca!sai> after liira. The Germans call their 
emperor A'niser, and the Russians call 
theirs Tsar or dar, both titles being 
modifications of the word ' Cx'sar.' 

2. Christian era, the period dating from the 

birth of Christ. It was not generally 
adopted in England until the eighth 
century. 

3. A.D., i.e., Anno Domini, in the year of our 

Lord. 

4. Claudius reigned from A.D. 41 to 54. On his 

return from Britain he assumed the sur- 
nunu- of Britcmnicus. 

5. Camulodunum (now Colchester), the capital 

of the Triiiobantes. 

6. Caradoc (Latinised form, Caraclacus) was 

the son of Cnnobelin or Cymbeline, king 
of file Trinobantes. Tlie name Cunobelin 
or Cymbeline can still be seen on some 
coins wiiich were struck in his time- 
King Cymbeline is also to be remembered 



because Shakespeare wrote a drama upon 
him and his beautiful daughter Imogene. 
Car.actacu3 succeeded his father, but after 




COIN OF CUNOBELIN. 

the capture of his capital, Camulodunum, 
he retreated to Wales, and became king of 
the Silures. 

7. Wallace, the national hero of Scotland, as 

Tell was of Switzerland. Wallace was 'the 
first to assert freedom as a national birth- 
right. His discovery of the military value 
of the stout peasant footman gave a death- 
blow to feudalism, and changed in the end 
the face of Europe.'— /. R. Green. 

8. Brigantes, a British tribe who occupied the 

country north of the Humber. 

9. The poetical extractsare taken from Bernard 

Biirtons poem, ' Caractaciis.' 




KOMA.V .SOLDIERS ON THE M.\ROH. 



36 



EARLY ENGLAND. 




BOADICEA, THE BRITISH QUEEN. 

FTER Caradoc was taken to 
Rome, other warlike tribes 
stoutly opposed the legions 
wherever they went. The 
emperor who succeeded Clau- 
dius was the wicked Nero/ 
the most cruel and tyranni- 
cal of all the emperors. In 
his time, Britain was gov- 
erned by Suetonius Pauliiins, 
who, after two years' severe 
fighting, was convinced that 
the Romans could never rule 
the country unless the Druids were exterminated. 

The headquarters of Druidism were in the island now 
called Anglesey. As it took several weeks for the 
Roman legions to march thither from Colchester and 
London, some of the more daring of the Britons re- 
solved to attack the Roman towns and kill all who 
were left behind. 

Several bands soon gathered on both sides of the 
Thames, eager to take revenge upon their harsh task- 
masters ; and who was at their head ? Was it some 
stern warrior like Caswallon who fought against Caesar, 
or Caradoc who was carried to Rome in chains ? No, 
it was a woman — the brave Boadicea, Queen of the 
Iceni.^ She had been cruelly treated by the Romans, 
and no one can wonder that she wished to see every 
legion cut to pieces or hurled back into the sea. 

Marching to Colchester^ the Britons not only laid it 



BOADICEA, THE BRITISH (21TEEN. t,7 

waste with fire and sword, but slaughtered a whole legion 
which came to relieve the garrison. They then took 
and destroyed Londinium^ and soon after the important 
Roman town of Vcrulamium,^ killing all the inhabitants. 
So dreadful was their revenge, that wherever they went 
they made no prisoners and gave no quarter. 

By this time Suetonius had returned from the slaughter 
of the Druids in Wales, and was only waiting for fresh 
troops. When he had gathered about ten thousand men, 
he at once attacked the large British army. 

Boadicea rode along the British ranks and fiercely 
urged her warriors to crush their cruel rulers and to 
regain their liberty. One writer says she was of com- 
manding stature and appearance, and wore her long yellow 
hair streaming down over her shoulders ; another describes 
her dress as a many-coloured tunic fastened round the 
waist by a chain of gold, with a long mantle over it. 

But all the eloquence of Boadicea and her soldiers' 
bravery were in vain. Such an army was no match 
for the drilled legions of Rome. So terrible was the 
defeat of the Britons that, in despair, Boadicea took 
poison to avoid being made captive. It is possible that 
she may have done so from fear of being carried to 
Rome to be led through the streets as a captive queen. 
Queen Cleopatra ^ of Egypt had already poisoned herself 
to avoid that fate ; and long afterwards we know that 
Zenobia,^ a queen of Syria, was brought to Rome to be 
shown in triumph. 

After this great rising of the Britons, the Romans 
placed Druidism under a ban. Although trodden down, 
its influence worked in the hearts of the people. Much 
of the old power of the priests was now given to the bards 
and prophets, who were so long honoured by the Welsh. 



38 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



We can picture to ourselves a group of Britons in 
some dim forest glade, gathered round an aged singer, 
and listening to thrilling legend, solemn hymn, and 
heart-stirring ballad. Such meetings would no doubt 
terminate with, a trembling repetition of the old Druidical 







A BRITISH BAKU, 

proceedings at the oak or round the sacred fire. Traces 
of the old British worship even yet remain in the festivi- 
ties of May-day,' the fires of Midsummer Eve,^ the sports 
at Halloween,^ and the use of the mistletoe at Christmas. 



1. Kero nigned from a.d. M to 09. He set fire 
to Konic, for whiih he blamed and per- 
secuted the Chriatiaiis. Paul was executed 
by his orders. 

1!. Icenl, a British tribe who occupied Norfolk 
and the Fen district. Yenta Tcenorum was 
their capital. See map, p, 22 

.". Londinium, London. 

4. Verulamlum, St. Albans. 

fi. Cleopatra was made queen of F.fO'lit '>>' 
.Tulius I'.Tsar, when he took Alexandria. 
She paiMoned herself, so the story runs, by 
holding an asp to her breast. 



G. Zenobla, the noble qiieen of Palmyra or 
Baalbec. After the capture of their queen, 
the citizens slaughtered the Roman gar- 
rison ; upon which the emperor ordered 
the destruction of the city. Its splendid 
ruins, mostly of white marble, cover an 
area Larger than Rome. 

7. May-day. The Druids used to light large 
linidircs before the dawn of the 1st of May 
to ii'lebrate the return of summer. 

8 Midsummer-eve, the 25th of Jime. 

!i. Halloween, the 30th of October. 



BOADICEA. 39 



BOADICEA. 

"XXTHEX tlie British warrior queeii. 
^ ' Bleeding from the Roman rods,^ 
Sought, with an indignant niien,- 
Counsel of her country's Gods, 

Sage 2 beneath the spreading oak, 
Sat the Druid, huary chief ; 

Every burning word he spoke, 
Full of rage, and full of grief. 

" Princess ! if our aged eyes 

^^'eep upon thy matcldess wrongs, 
'Tis because resentment ties 
All the terrors of our tongues. 

" Rome shall perish ! write that word 
In the blood that she has spilt ; 
Perish, hopeless and abhorred, 
Deep in ruin as in guilt. 

" Rome, for empire far renowned, 
Tramples on a thousand states ; ^ 
Soon her pride shall kiss the ground — 
Hark ! the Goth ^ is at her gates ! 

" Other Romans shall arise, 

Heedless of a soldier's name ; 
Sounds, not arms, shall win the prize, 
Harmony ^ the path to fame. 

" Then the progeny that springs 
From the forests of our land, 
Armed with thunder, clad with wings. 
Shall a wider world command.'' 



40 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



" Eegions Caesar never knew 
Thy posterity shall sway,* 
Where his eagles never flew, 
None invincible as they." 

Such the bard's prophetic words, 

Pregnant with celestial fire. 
Bending as he swept the chords 

Of his sweet but awful lyre. 

She, with all a monarch's pride, 

Felt them in her bosom glow ; 
Rushed to battle, fought^ and died ; 

Dying, hurled them at the foe. 

" Ruffians, pitiless as proud. 

Heaven awards the vengeance due ; 
Empire is on us bestowed, 

Shame and ruin wait for you.'""* 

COWPER. 



1. The husband of Boadicea, king of the Iceni, 
had lefthalf of his territory totheKomaus, 
and the other half to his two daughters. 
Tlie insatiable conquerors, however, seized 
the whole. WTien Boadicea bravely claimed 
justice for hei- daugliters, she was publicly 
scourged. 

?. Mien, aspect or countenance. 

3. Sage, wise. 

4. The Roman Empire now included four great 

divisions or prefectures, (1) Italy, (2) Mace- 
donia and ailjoining countries, (3) the 
western part of Asia and northern part of 
Africa, and (41 Gaul, which also included 
Britain and Sp.nin. 

5. Goth. In 395 Alaric, the great chief of the 

Visi-Goth.-i, overran Greece. In 403 he in- 



vaded Italy, and a few years later, took 
and sacked Rome itself. 

6. Some of the greatest singers and composers 

were Italians. 

7. Cowper puts in the mouth of the Druid a 

reference to the future greatness of the 
English navy. 

8. A poetic allusion to Britain's vast colonial 

possessions. 

9. By the year 475 the whole of the Western 

Empire h.ad been overrun by countles-s 
hordes of Goths and Vand.als. In thiit year 
a Gothic chief became king of Italy. 
Nearly a thousand years afterwanls (in 
14531, the capture of Constantinople by the 
Turks swept away the last vestige of the 
once invincible Roman Empire. 




THE COMPLETION OF THE ROMAN CONQUEST. 41 




THE COMPLETION OF THE ROMAN 
CONQUEST. 

HE Roman general who 
really made a durable con- 
quest in Britain was Julius 
Agricola, governor of the 
island from 78 to 84. He 
was great both as a leader 
in war and as a ruler in 
peace. He thoroughly sub- 
dued the southern part of 
the island, and drove to the 
northward the fiercer spirits 
who would never submit to 
a foreign yoke. 

AGKICOLA. T T • 1 • • i. 

Leading his army into 
the forests and mountains of Caledonia,^ he was victorious 
in eveiy encounter. The decisive battle was fought at 
a place which the historian calls Mons Grampius, and 
which is supposed to have been on the southern slope 
of the Grampians," in the south of Perthshire. Here 
Agricola gained a complete victory over thirty thousand 
Caledonians. Their leader, Gcdgacus, was slain on the 
field. 

In that battle, the North Britons used Avar-chariots 
like those of the South Britons ; and their broadswords 
and small round shields seem to have been like those 
used so long afterwards by the Scottish Highlanders. 

Agricola proved that Great Britain is an island, for 
his ships sailed as far north as the Orknej^s,^ and then 
southwards alonsf the west coast till thev turned Land's 



42 EARLY ENGLAND. 

Eucl. The Romans, however, did not know much about 
geography. When some of Agricola's sailors reached 
Rome, they reported that at the Orkneys they had seen 
Tliulo ■* hid in eternal snow, and that the sea there was 
a sluggish stagnant mass, which would scarcely yield to 
the stroke of the oar, and was never agitated by winds 
or storms ! 

To keep back the defeated but unsubdued Caledonians, 
who, from their mountain fastnesses, made frequent in- 
roads into the Roman territory, Agricola built two strong 
earthen ramparts — one between the Tyne and the Solway 
Firth, the other from the Firth of I'orth to the Firth of 
Clyde. These walls were ten feet high, and had in 
front of them a ditch ten feet deep and fifteen feet 
broad. At regular intervals were strong camps and forts, 
connected by excellent roads. 

During seven years of almost constant warfare, 
Agricola did not neglect the more peaceful duties of 
the statesman. By his mildness and courtesy, he won 
the hearts of the Britons. He set up courts of law, 
governed with justice, and put an end to the tyranny 
of the Roman tax-gatherers. He also provided for the 
education of the sons of the chiefs, and encouraged the 
Britons to plead their cases before him. Those who, 
before he came, had despised the Roman language, were 
now ambitious to become eloquent ; Roman books were 
eagerly read, and the Roman toga was worn by many. 

This wise ruler also introduced the comforts of civi- 
lised life. Roman dwellings, luxurious baths, beautiful 
theatres, spacious amphitheatres^ and splendid temples 
made even servitude pleasant. In this way, the Britons 
of the South became contented with their chains and 
patient in slavery. 



THE COMPLETION OF THE ROMAN CONQUEST. 43 



The noble Agricola was recalled to Eonie by the 
Emperor, who was jealous of his victories as a general 
and his fame as a governor. A triumph was decreed 
by the Roman senate, but Agricola never received the 
honour, and spent the rest of his life in retirement and 
tranquillity. 



1. Caledonia, the Latinised form of tlie Celtic 
name for Britain north of the Forth and 
Clyde. The native name was Albyn, by 
which name it is still called by the High- 
landers. 

'.'. Grampians, a range of lofty mountains 
streteUing across Scotland from Aberdeen 
to .\rgyle. 

0. Orkneys, the ' islands of whales," from orca, 
a whale, and innis, and ty — the former of 
which is the Celtic, and the latter the 
Norse term for 'island.' They lie to the 
north of Scotland, and are divided from it 
by the boisterous Pentland Firth. 



4. Thnle. The Romans used the phrase 'Ultima 
7'hule' to denote the most northerly land 
they knew. Some think that the tenu 
referred to Iceland, others to the Faroe 
Islands. In our text it denotes the Ork- 
neys. 

0. Amphitheatre, a theatre of circular form, 
with rows of .seats all round. In them 
were performed the sports in which the 
Romans delighted, combats between gla- 
diators and wild beasts. &c. The most 
famous amphitheatre was that known as 
the Coliseum in Rome ; it was built by 
Vespasian and his son Titus. 



THE COMPLETION OF THE ROMAN 

CONQUEST!— cojitiimed. 

AFTER the departure of Agricola, the work he had begun 
-^ was for some time steadily carried on. Numerous 
towns'^ were built in various parts of the province. All 
of these had a certain degree of self-government, and 
the chief of them were models of Rome itself — the 
citizens had all the rights of Romans, and were free to 
make their own laws. Among these free towns were 
Jjondon, St. Albans, Coldicster, Ccmibridge, Lincoln, and 
York in the east ; Bath, Gloucester, and Chester in the 
west. Splendid roads, aqueducts,^ and public works of 
all kinds were constructed throughout the country. 

Gradually, however, the incursions of the Caledonians 
became more and more frequent. The walls of Agricola 
foi'med an insufficient protection against these fiery foes. 



44 



EARLY ENGLAND. 




CALKDOXIAXd WATCHING THK ROMANS. 



THE COMPLETION OF THE ROMAN CONQUEST. 45 



^^ 



Accordingly, the Emperor Hadrian ^ visited Britain, and 
threw up a wall from the Tyne to the Solway. This 
was parallel to Agricola's earthwork, and exactly like it. 
The two together formed a strong double rampart. 
Nineteen years later, in the reign of Antonine, the 
Roman general, LolUus Urhicus, built a similar earth- 
work to strengthen Agricola's second line from the 
Forth to the Clyde. 

Still the fierce mountaineers of the north broke 
over these defences again and again. Sometimes 
the Romans drove them back ; at other 
times indolent governors were glad to 
purchase peace from the hardy 
"^ liill-men. At last the Emperor 
Severus, who had formerly been a 
governor of Britain, resolved to 
subdue them completely. He 
made great preparations ; but the 
moment he crossed the wall of 
Hadrian he was confronted with 
terrible dangers and difficulties. 
So great was the labour of mak- 
mg roads and building bridges, 
cutting down forests, draining 
marshes and throwing causeways aci'oss them, that fifty 
thousand Romans are said to have perished. 

On his return from Caledonia, the old Emperor built a 
very strong wall of stone across the island from New- 
castle to Carlisle. It was twelve feet high and sixty 
miles long, and so solid and well built that much of it 
remains to this day. Along the wall were military 
stations or camps, connected by a line of over eighty 
forts and three hundred and thirtv watch-towers, 




f^OMAN SQLpi£.BS 



46 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



Before this great rampart and its forts were quite 
finished, the stern Severus heard that the Caledonians 
had again risen up against the Romans. He hurried 
north, with a terrible vow that he would clear every 
tribe and man of them from off the face of the earth ; 

^ but on reaching the 
" "^ "^'' Roman town of Kho- 

racivm^ which was 
then the capital of the 
north, old age and 
illness overcame the 
iron-willed Roman, 
and he died there."' 

Severus' son and 
successor, anxious to 
return to Rome, made peace with the Caledonians, and 
formally gave up to tliem the whole country north of 
his father's wall. After this, no attempt was made to 
penetrate North Britain, and thus the career of Roman 
conquest was brought to a close. 







1. The Roman towns in Britain were of four 
classrs, U) ilunicipia. -Hiiich were native 
towns received into tlie empire, witli tlie 
full privileges of Romnn cities ; |2) Colonice.. 
or towns si;ttled by retired veterans and 
otlier Roman colonists. The other two 
classes were of less importance, and the 
inhabitants liad not the full rights of 
Roman citizens. 



2 Aqueducts, channels for roinviiing itnler 
fiom one iiluce to another. We now use 
jiipes, but the Romans erected splendid 
strui!tiires bridging the valli'ys. 

". Hadrian, emperor from a.d. 117 to 138. 

4. Eboracum, now York, one of the two 'mnni- 

lijii.^' in Britain. Tlie other was Veruln- 
7niinn, now St. Albans. 

5. Severus di.d in the year 'JU. 




A PIRATE WEARS THE PURPLE. 



47 




A PIRATE WEARS THE PURPLE. 

HEN the Romans ruled 
Britain, tliey had much 
trouble with hordes of sav- 
age pirates, generally known 
as Saxons.^ These hardy sea- 
I'overs came across the Ger- 
man Ocean, and Avere, in fact, 
1 he forerunners of the Saxons, 
Angles, and Danes, who aftei'- 
wards became masters of the 
whole country, as we shall 
read presently. 
cARArsius. To put down those early 

pirates, the Romans equipped a great fleet, giving the 
chief command to an officer styled the ' Count of the 
Saxon Shore.' Some think that the name ' Saxon 
Shore ' meant not only a coast attacked by the Saxons, 
but a region already peopled by them. If this be true, 
the Saxon invasion and occupation began long before 
the Romans left the island. 

The first ' Count of the Saxon Shore ' was a daring 
and skilful sailor called Carausius. It is said he had 
been a pirate himself; but however that may be, he not 
only defeated all the German freebooters and enriched 
himself and his seamen with much plunder, but became 
so powerful that orders were sent from Rome to put him 
to death. But so popular had Carausius become by his 
daring and success, that the legions in Britain flocked 
round him and hailed him as emperor. 

Thus it was that a man of unknown l)ii-th came to 



48 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



wear in Britain the imperial diadem ^ and purple robe ! ^ 
He compelled the Roman emperors to grant him the 
sole government of Britain with the adjacent coast of 
Gaul, and to acknowledge his title of emperor. 

His reign ought to be remembered were it only for 
the navy that he built. Under him, for the first time, 
this country was mistress of all the North Sea and the 
Channel, as she was afterwards to become under Alfred 
the Great ^ in early English times, under Blake ^ in Puritan 
times, and under Nelson " in modern times. The ships of 
Carausius were manned by pirates, with whom he had 
formerly fought. 

In our museums, we have many coins of gold, silver, 
and bronze, which were struck by Carausius,' the pirate- 
emperor, and some of them show that he was a man of 
commanding presence. He reigned for seven years, and 
was then assassinated at York by Allectus, who himself 
then became emperor of Britain. But three years later 
he was defeated and slain by Constantius, the father of 
Constantine the Great. Thus Britain once more became 
a province of Rome. 



1. Saxon, said to be derived from seaxe, a short 

sword. It denoted a league of kindred 
tribes livlnji between tlie moutli of the 
Khine and Jutland. 

2. Diadem, a head-band or fillet worn by the 

oniiieriirs. The word is often loosely used 

for a frown. 
S. Purple robe. The use of the purpls dye for 

the loga, or Roman mantle, was restricted 

to the empen'r and his household. 
4. Alfred the Great, see page 95. 



5. Blake. In the time of Cromwell. Klake, one 
of the greatest of English admirals, re- 
peatedly defeated the Dutch, and thus 
gained for England the mastery of the sea. 

fi. Nelson, the greatest of English admirals. V.y 
his splendid victories he finally established 
England's supremacy at se.a. He was 
mortally wounded in the victorious battls 
of Trafalgar in 1805. 

7. Carausius was emperor of Britain from A.D. 
289 to 297. 




LAST CENTURY OF ROMAN RULE. 



49 



LAST CENTURY OF ROMAN RULE. 




CONSTANTINE THE CRKAT. 



ARAUSIUS was emperor 
in Britain only, but we now 
turn to a much greater man 
wlio ruled the mighty Roman 
Empire, and through whom 
mostof Europe became Chris- 
tian. So many countries did 
Constantine govern, that he 
thouorht Rome was too far 
west to be the capital of his 
empire ; he therefore built a 
splendid town near the Black 
Sea, and called it Constan- 
tinople,^ after his own name. 
Constantine " ought to be named in every history 
of England, because it was at York, where his father 
died, that he was first hailed as Roman emperor ; and 
also because wo are told that he was born in Britain, 
and that his mother, Helen, was of British blood. 

After the great Constantine became a Christian, all 
the emperors who followed him, except one. were also 
Christians. But Christianity liad been introduced into 
Britain before the time of Constantine. A distinguished 
father of the Church," writing in the time of the Emperor 
Severus, says that even those places in Britain which 
had defied the Roman arms had yielded to the frentle 
gospel of Christ. As early as the year 304, Celtic 
Christians had to suffer cruel persecution, and the 
first British martyr * died rather than deny the faith of 
Jesus. 



(H. 2.) 



D 



50 EARLY ENGLAND. 

Afterwards we shall find that Christianity was brought 
over from Rome to the Saxons ; but it is very interesting 
to know that, long before that time, the gospel had been 
received not only by the civilised Britons in the south, 
but by the ruder tribes of the north. 

After the death of Constantine the Great, the Roman 
Empire became weak, especially in the west of Europe ; 
and the Britons began to be much troubled both by the 
Caledonians from the north and by Saxon pirates from 
the south and east. 

The Caledonians were now called Picts and Attacots,^ 
and generally brought with them some of the Scots, an 
Irish race as savage and terrible as themselves. The 
great Roman wall was of little use when so many of 
the legions had been withdrawn; and, in the year 367, 
the Picts and Scots not only came as far south as 
London, but pillaged and burnt it, carrying off the 
citizens as slaves. 

Although this invasion was driven back and the wall 
of Severus repaired, the unhappy Britons were never 
allowed to enjoy any rest. At last, in 382, the Roman 
general, Maximus (said to be of British descent), assumed 
the title of emperor, and seized the western provinces 
of the empire. So many thousands of the Celtic youth 
were enrolled in his legions that the country was left 
((uite undefended, and the Picts and Scots ruthlessly 
plundered the miserable and effeminate people of the 
south. 

The Roman Empire decayed still more and more, and 
the legions were recalled from Britain and other pro- 
vinces to defend Italy against the fierce Goths ^ and other 
barbarians now pouring in from the north. 

At last Rome itself was sacked, and the Emperor 



LAST CENTURY OF ROMAN RULE. 



51 



Honorius recalled all tlie Roman soldiers then left in 
Britain. In the year 4 1 1 , he formally released the 
Britons from their allegiance ; but, seven years later, he 
sent over a legion to aid the Britons once more against 
their cruel northern foes. 

Finally, in the year 426, the Emperor Valcntinian III. 
withdrew all the troops, and the Britons were then left 
to fight for themselves. The struggle was hopeless. 
The Picts had been for some time in close alliance with 
kindred tribes from Ireland who were called Scots ; to 
these were now added the pirates of the German Ocean 
known as " Saxons." 

The civilised Britons were quite unable to struggle 
against enemies so warlike and so strong. A most 
pathetic picture of the nation's suffering is presented in 
a sorrowful letter, called the " Groans of the Britons," ' 
which was sent to Rome twenty years after the legions 
had departed for ever. This removal of the Roman legion- 
aries was an important step towards the greatest event 
in our history — the change of Britain into England.** 



1. Constantinople, the city of Constantine, now 

the capital of the Turkish Empire. It 
stands at the southern entrance of a nar- 
row channel leading from the Sea of Mar- 
mora to the Black Sea. It was made tlie 
capital of the Roman Empire by Con- 
stantine in 330, and fell into the hands of 
the Turks in 1453. 

2. Constantino was sole emperor, 324 to 337. 

3. Tertullian. 

4. First British martyr, Alban, who was put 

to death in 304 by the Romans, durini; the 
jicrsecution of the Christians by Diocle- 
tian. The Roman tovra of Verulamium 
w us renamed St. Albans after him. 

5. Picts and Attacots. The Picts were the 

native Gaelic race of North Britain. The 
Scots were a kindred tribe from Ireland who 
seltlfd in the valley of the Clyde. It is a 
moot point who the Attacots were; the 
word seems to have the same meaning 
as ' Briton,' that is, spotted, stained, or 
painted. Some think it was applied to 
tlie mixed race living near the Roman 

wall* 



G. Goths. At this time the Goths occupied the 
centre and north-east of Euroiie. They 
were divided into two great branches — the 
eastern branch called the Austro-Goths and 
the western the Visi-Goths. See note 5, 
I..-ige JU. 

7. ' The Groans of the Britons.' The follow- 

ing is a translation of part of the letter as 
given by Gildas— ' To .Etius, Thrice Consul. 
The Groans of the Britons:— The Biirbarians 
drive us to the sea, and the sea drives ui 
back to the Barbarians ; so that between 
the two we must be either slaughtered or 
drowned.' He tells us that the British 
nation was ctit np by the Picts and Scots 
like sheep by butchers, and that the coim- 
try became the residence of wild animals. 
His account seems to be exaggerated : the 
Britons really armed themselves, and m.ade 
as brave a defence as they could. 

8. Macaulay says that of the western provinces 

tli.at obeyed the Ca?sars, Britain w.as the 
last that was conquered, and the first th.at 
was thrown away. 



KOUTES OF GERMAfillC IT^VADERS 




Jutes > 



„ Sazons Angles . 



THE COMING OF THE ENGLISH. 53 



///. HO IV BRITAIN BECAME 
ENGLAND. 

THE COMING OF THE ENGLISH. 

AFTER four centuries of Roman rule, the inhabi- 
tants of Britain still remained Celtic, both in 
race and in language. The nation was thus the 
same, but its spirit was changed. The valour of the 
early Celts had declined under the imperious rule of 
1 he Romans ; and the Britons, accustomed to look to 
their conquerors for protection, had no thought of self- 
defence. Thousands of British youth were indeed 
trained to arms, but only to be "drafted off to fight the 
enemies of the empire in distant lands. While the 
veterans of Rome remained in camp and garrison from 
the Thames to the Tyne, the Britons dwelt secure, 
unconscious of their helplessness — the moment the 
legionaries were withdrawn, the country was defence- 
less, and seemed to invite invasion. 

We have. already spoken of the coming of the Celts, 
and tlieii- subjection by the Romans. The time had 
now come when a Gothic or Germanic^ race was to seize 
the greater part of the country. These new-comers 
were the true forefathers of the English people, their 
language was the parent of our present tongue, and 
their home gave its name to the country. 

Who were these " English " invaders ? Where was 
the true " Old England ? " 

These early English were the bold and hardy pirates 
of the German Ocean. Tall, strong-limbed, fair-haired 



54 EARLY ENGLAND. 

and blue-eyed, they vied with each other in fierceness, 
cruelty, and daring. Three tribes dwelling between the 
North Sea and the Baltic — the Jutes, Saxons, and 
Angles — sent forth these savage sea-rovers. The Jutes 
occupied the peninsula of Jutland ; "~ the Angles lived 
farther south, in a district still called Angeln^ or Engeln ; 
the Saxons came from the coast between the Elbe*^ and 
the Weser.^ Our old English forefathers came, therefore, 
from the land between the Elbe and the Skager-rack ; ** 
and it is there that we must look for the birthplace of 
our language, the cradle of our liberties, and the early 
home of our race. 

To the Britons and Romans all these marauders were 
known as Saxu7is. Savage and ignorant as they were, 
they had always been freemen, they had never yielded 
to the Roman yoke. On land, each man tilled his own 
plot, and had a voice in the government of his tribe. 
They obeyed chosen chiefs, but had no king. Roman 
writers dwell especially on their respect for -women 
and love for their families and kindred. 

At sea, they were fierce rovers, intent on slaughter 
and plunder, regardless of storm or tempest. At first 
they had small flat-bottomed boats, fit only for creeping 
from point to point along the coast. Before the 
Romans left, they scoured the sea in large galleys and 
swept along the shores of Britain and Gaul, spreading 
terror and destruction wherever they appeared. 

They used steel swords, spears, and battle-axes ; but 
their favourite weapon was a heavy iron club or mace. 
No wonder they w-ere the dread of every coast. A 
Roman poet says, " Fierce and cunning, the sea is their 
school of war and the storm their friend ; they are 
sea-wolves that live by plunder." 



THE JUTES. 



55 



Such were the people who began to pour into the 
country after the Romans left. 



1. Gothic nr Germanic, also called Teutonic : 
the Teutonic race is now spread over the 
middle, north-western, and some of the 
western countries of Europe, and forms 
the predominant people in Germany, Nor- 
way. Sweden, Denmark, Holland. Belgium, 
and Great ISrifciin. 

2 Jutland, the only European peninsula that 
extends northwards. 

3. Angeln, in the province of Sclileswig-Hol- 
stein. between Flensburg and the Schlei 
Fiord. The Continental language which 



most resembles our own is the Frisian : 
' Good butter and good cheese 
Is good English and good Friese.' 

4. The Elbe rises in Bohemia and flows tlirough 

the middle of Germany into tlie North 
.Sea. Si.xty miles above its mouth is the 
famous port of Hamburg, the great em- 
porium of the foreign trade of Germany. 

5. The Weser drains the district between the 

Elbe and the Rhine, and enters the North 
Sea forty miles above Bremen. 

6. Skager-Rack, between Jutland and Norway. 



THE JUTES. 

WE shall first tell of the coming of the Jutes. The 
Britons, you will remember, were unable to 
cope with their enemies — Picts, Scots, and "Saxon" 
pirates. 

The British king, Vortigern, thought it would be a 
wise plan to employ the sea-warriors against his other 
foes. He therefore asked two Jutish leaders, Hcngist ^ 
and Horsaf to help him in driving back his northern 
enemies. They agreed, and came over with three ships, 
carrying (it is said) l6oo men. 

The first landing-place was in the IsU of Thanct, 
which was at that time separated from the rest of Britain 
by a wide channel. Guarding the passage, was the great 
Roman castle of Ricliborouyh^^ the ruins of which still 
form one of the grandest monuments in Britain. 

The Britons and their new auxiliaries at once marched 
ao-ainst the Picts and Scots, who were unable to resist 
the valour of the Jutes and were driven back to the 
north. Vortigern and his people congratulated them- 
selves on having secured the help of so warlike a race, 



56 EARLY ENGLAND, 

and rewarded tlie service of their allies with a gift of 
the Isle of Thanet.* 

So easy had been the victory, and so pleasant was 
the new home of the Jutes, that their bretln'en on the 




THE STANDAUD OF THE WHITE HORSE, THE JUTISH ENSIGN. 

Continent hurried over to join them. One writer says 
that five thousand men came in seventeen ships. Thanet 
was too small to hold so many warriors ; and, having no 
fear of the Britons, they determined to seek a quarrel. 



THE JUTES. 57 

They soon found an excuse ; and, declaring war, they 
crossed the Medway/ and invaded Kent. One battle 
was fought at Aylesfurd, on the Medway, where Horsa 
was killed. The Britons were, however, defeated and 
driven from the coast region. In a few years the in- 
vaders had possession of the " castles of the shore " — 
Dover, ^ Zymne, and Bicliborough. The decisive struggle 
took place at the village of Crayford ; ^ the Britons were 
routed and compelled "to leave Kentland and flee to 
Lundenhurg ." '^ 

Every victory was followed by the most cruel acts. 
Neither rank, age, nor sex was spared. The clergy 
were slain at the very altars, and the people were 
slaughtered in thousands. Some of the Britons were 
allowed to live, that they might become the slaves of 
the conquerors. Others fled to their kinsmen in the 
north-west of Gaul, and gave that region the name of 
Brittany.^ 

British writers ffive a different account of the con- 
quest of Kent, and thoy explain the success of the 
Jutes by two incidents — the love of Vortigern for the 
daughter of Hengist, and a treacherous massacre of the 
Britisli leaders. 

" After the defeat of the Picts," they say, " Hengist 
Iniilt for liimself a castle in Lincolnshire, and invited 
Vortigern to a grand banquet there. At the feast, 
there appeared before the dazzled eyes of the king a 
vision of beauty, fair as the angels in Paradise. Rowcna, 
the golden-haired daughter of Hengist, stood before 
him. Filling a golden goblet with wine, she touched 
it with her lips, and wished him health. Then, kneel- 
ing at his feet, she presented the cup to the royal guest. 
At once he loved her, and desired to make her his 



58 



EARLY ENGLAND. 




VORTIGEHN AND KOWENA. 



THE SAXONS. 



59 



queen. Hengist consented, and received from the dot- 
ing Vortigern the Isle of Thanet." 

The same Avriter says that Vortigern, with three 
hundred of his chiefs, Avent, in a friendly spirit, to a 
feast given by Hengist at Stonehenge.^*' That all at 
once, Hengist called out, " Take your daggers ! " and 
that, upon this signal the whole of the unsuspecting 
British nobles were cruelly slaughtered. Vortigern's 
life was spared, but he was detained in close captivity. 

Whetlier these stories be true or not, it is certain 
the Britons were completely driven out of Kent. The 
conquerors brought over their families, and settled in 
their new land with all their old customs and laws. 
What had been a Celtic province became, in people, 
language, and government, an English state. 



1. Hengist means a horse. The fijriire of a 

White Horse was the stantlani of the 
Jutes. 

2. Horsa means a mare. 

^^. Richborough. See Map, page 22. 

4. Isle of Thanet, i.e., the ' Islam! of Nobles.' 

5. Medway, that is, 'miildle water,' the river 

rnnniiig through the middle of (the old 
kiugdom of) Kent. 



6. Dover, the nearest town in England to the 

Continent ; only twenty-one miles from 
Calais. 

7. Crayford, in the north-west of Kent, on the 

road from London to Chatham. 

8. Lundenburg, i.e., London. 

9. Brittany, thenorth-west province of France. 
10. Stonehenge, see note 5, page 15. 



THE SAXONS. 

THE next part in this great English invasion was 
the landing on the south coast of numerous wild 
crews of the Saxon ^ race. The word " Saxon'' had long 
been known to the Britons, who gave that name to all 
the Germanic invaders. To this day, those who speak 
the Welsh and Gaelic " languages call the English people 
S((cson and Sassenach, i.e., Saxon. 

Four settlements of this tribe established themselves 
in England. One colony '^ was formed in ihe south, 
and was called South Saxonv or Sussex ; a second 



6o 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



family conquered tlie country further west, and founded 
West Saxony or Wessex ; similarly, a third group 
settled in East Saxony or Essex ; while a subdivision 
of this last band fovmd a home in Middle Saxony or 
Middlesex. 

The South Saxons. — The South Saxons had their 
headquarters at a strong fort which they called, after one 
of their leaders, ^' Cissa-ceaster" "^ i.e., " Cissas camp or 
castle,'' now Chichester. The struggle with the Jutes of 
Kent had roused the Britons from the long lethargy^ of 
the Roman rule. They fought with determined courage. 




WALLS OF PEVENSKY CASTLE. 



Although the Saxons were reinforced again and again, 
it took them eighteen j^ears to drive back the brave 
defenders. 

At last but one castle remained to the Britons — a 
strong place near Pevensey,*' with huge Boman walls so 
thick and massive that they can be seen there to this very 
day. This the Saxons took, after a long and desperate 
struggle. Their chief, Ella, then became king of 
Sussex ; and his followers extended themselves over the 
whole of that county, and the greater part of Surrey. 



THE SAXONS. 



6i 



The West Saxons. — The West Saxons were led by 
Ccrdic, and they were so jDowerful that they founded a 
very large kingdom. They first conquered Hampshire, 
but afterwards they occupied the country as far north as 
the Thames, and as far 
west as Cornwall. No 
other body of invaders 
met with so desperate 
a resistance. From 
the very day of their 
landing, they had to 
fight for every inch 
of the land. Cerdic 
called in the aid of 
his kinsmen in Sussex 
and Kent, as well as 
of those in Germany. 
Battle after battle was 
fought, and the Bri- 
tons slowly but surely 
were compelled to re- 
treat to the north and 
west. Finally, a deter- 
mined band was sur- 
rounded and besieged 
at Mount Had on, now 
Badbury, near Bath. 
A brave British prince, 
Arthur, came to the 
rescue, gained a great victory over the Saxons, and 
stopped their further progress in that direction. 

About three hundred years after the great battle of 
Mount Badon, a descendant of the leader of the West 




KUIN.S OK ARTHUK's CASTLE AT TINTAGEL, ON 
THK WEST COAST OK CORNWALL. 



62 EARLY ENGLAND. 

Saxons became king of all England. Hence we should 
remember Cerdic's name ; because all the English sove- 
reigns since, even to the time of Queen Victoria, have 
been his descendants. Thus the royal house of Eng- 
land is the oldest in Europe. 

The Bast and the Middle Saxons. — The East Saxons 
had for their stronghold the town of Colchester,' which 
had been founded by the Romans ; and the i\Iiddle Saxons 
had a still larger city for their capital, a town which after- 
wards grew to be the largest in the whole world. ^ These 
two bands had not nearly so hard a contest as the 
others. The east coast had long been exposed to attack 
from the sea, and the powerful kingdom of Kent was so 
close at hand that these invaders met with little resist- 
ance. Their rulers were usually under-kiugs, paying 
tribute to their more powerful neighbours. 

Thus, after more than seventy years of constant war- 
fare, and in spite of the heroic resistance of the Britons, 
the Saxons had not merely conquered the south-eastern 
portion of the island, but had re-peopled the land with 
a race Enoflish in blood and in lanfjuaore. 



classifies tlie family 
Gaeli 



1. Sazons, soc note 1. pasp 48. 5. Letliargy, inactivity ; eoimecteil with Lethe, 

2. Welsh and Gaelic, tlu; two branches of tlie the Greek woril fur furgetfulness. The 
Celtic race in Britain. Max Muller thus , ancients applied the name Lethe to ' the 

river of oblivion '— 

• Whereof who drinks, 

Forthwith his former state and being forjiets— 

Forgets both Joy and grief, pleasure and pain.' 

C. Pevensey, called Andcridii. At this time a 

vast forest covered this part of the country 

in which iW Britons sought refuge after the 

capture of Anderida. The Old Saxon Cliro- 

nicle says, • Ella and Cissa beset Anderida 

and slew all the people therein, so tliat 

afterwards there was not a Briton left 

Pevensey is on the coast of Sussex, a few 



f Scotland. 
< Ircl.ind. 
1 Isle of Mf 

Cymric 



C W:,le 
) Briltiiiv. 



I Co 



3. Colony. The Roman ' colonia was simply a 
town inhabited by Roman citizens, gene- 
rally veteran soldiers. The Saxon colonies, 



like those of later timns, were settlements ' miles north-west of Beachy Head. 



spread over entire districts. 
The termination ceaster Is fV'om the Latin 
cnstra. a camp. (.'f. CirencMfc)-, Man- 
chestir. Umcaster, &c. 



7. Colchester, on the river C'olne W Essex. 

Tlie name combines the two Roman words, 
colonia, a colony, and contra, a camp. 

8. London. 



THE STORY OF KING ARTHUR. 



63 




KING ARTHl 



THE STORY OF. KING ARTHUR. 



WHO has not heard some of the ballads and tales of 
King Arthur and the ' Knights of the Round 
Table ? ' He and his knights were patterns of honour, 
truth, and loyalty ; and in many a battle under his 
flag, the ' Red Dragon,' they beat down their savage 
foes. His chief victory Avas at Mount Badon ; and after 
the fatal fight of Camlan,^ he was buried in the famous 
Abbey of Glastonbury " in Somerset. 

The Welsh poets, however, say that King Arthur 



64 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



never died, but ' passed away ' in a weird boat con- 
ducted by three dark- 
robed queens. 

But perhaps you would 
like to know the story as 
the poets tell it/' 

King Arthur was the 
noblest of the kinofs of 
Britain, and he had twelve 
knights who fought with 
him against his enemies, 
the savage Saxons. So 
true and brave were these 
knights, that no man 
could say which was be- 
fore another in honour. 
Therefore in his fair 
palace at Camelot * King 
Arthur had a round 
table, at which the twelve 
knights sat as equals — 
none being above an- 
other. At the close of the 
disastrous day of battle, 
when all his knights had 
fallen about their lord,the 
king called his nephew. 
Sir Bedivere, when they 
were alone, and gave him 
his magical sword, Ex- 
calibur, saying — 

" I am so deeply smitten through tlie liehii, 
That without help I cannot Last till morn. 




THE STORY OF KING ARTHUR. 65 

Thou therefore take my brand Excalibur, 

Which was my pride : for thou rememberest how 

In those old days, one summer noon, an arm 

Eose up from out the bosom of the lake. 

Holding the sword — and how I rowed across 

And took it, and have worn it like a king. 

And, wheresoever I am sung or told 

In aftertime, this also shall be known. 

But now delay not ; take Excalibur 

And fling him far into tlie middle mere : 

Watch what thou seest, and lightly bring me word." ^ 

So much did the knight admire the wonderful sword, 
with its beautiful hilt set in jewels, that he at first 
wished to hide it ; but, when Arthur repeated his com- 
mand, he closed his eyes lest its beauty should tempt 
him, and with both hands swung the mighty sword and 
flung it far into the lake. When he looked after it, he saw 
an arm rise from the water, catch the wondrous hilt, and 
after waving the sword three times, draw it down out of 
sight under the lake. Sir Bedivere returned to Arthur 
and told what he had seen. 

" Sir King, I closed mine eyelids, lest the gems 
Should blind my purpose, for I never saw, 
Nor shall see, here or elsewhere, till I die, 
Not though I live three lives of mortal men, 
So great a miracle as yonder hilt. 
Then with both hands I flung him, wheeling him; 
But when I looked again behold an arm, 
That caught him by the liilt and brandished him 
Three times, and drew him under in the mere." 

" Then my end is near," said the king ; "■ carry me 
down to the water's edge." 

So the knight with many tears bore Arthur to the 
lake ; and lo ! in the moonlight he now saw, like a dream, 
(11 2.) E 



66 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



a dusky barge waiting on the shore, with three queens 
and their attendants standing on the deck, all dressed 
in black robes and hoods. The knight placed the king 
in the mysterious boat, and stood in awe and silence 
while it slowly left the shore, ' till the hull looked one 
black dot against the verge of dawn.' So King Arthur 
passed away. 



1. Camlan, in Cornwall. 

'J. Glastonbury, live miles soutli-west of Wells. 

3. Spenser and Tennyson have both ninde 
Ai'tluir the hero of great poems. Even 
Milton at one time proposed to make liis 
great poem on Arthur. The Liter poets 
all drew from Sir Thomas Mallory's ' Morte 



iVArthur.' among the earliest of tlie books 

printed by Ca.xton. 
i. Camelot or Cadbury, about twenty-si-vcn 

miles south of Bath. 
5. Tlie poetical e.xtracts are from Tennyson's 

' Passing of Arthur,' in the ' Idylls of the 

King.' 



THE ANGLES OF THE EAST AND NORTH. 



w 



E have seen how the Jutes formed an English king- 
dom in Kent, and how the Saxons had other 
kingdoms in the south ; but the third race, the Angles 
(or Engles), was more numerous than all the others 
together. They occupied so much of South Britain that 
the whole land was called ' Angle-land ' or ' England,' 
and the common speech of the various tribes came to 
be known as ' English.' 

The terrible struggle of the Britons with the West 
Saxons had not yet terminated when these new-comers 
burst like a torrent on the east coast of the island. The 
wearied but determined Britons fought with stubborn 
valour, and encountered the invaders in many battles. 
Their bravery was of no avail ; the struggle was hopeless. 
Band after band of fresh foemen poured in from the sea, 
and the defenders were driven to the west. The con- 
querors, settling in the new laud, founded the Kingdom 



THE ANGLES OF THE EAST AND NORTH. 



67 



of East Angl'ia, witli its two great divisions of Northfolk 
and Southfolk} 

While this conquest was going on, another swarm of 
Angles, under Ida the ' Flame-bearer,' landed at Flam- 
boroughHead in Yorkshire, with fifty 'keels, '^ one hundred 
years after Hengist settled in Kent with only three. 
He built a large stronghold, which he made his capital, 
and named, after his wife Bebba, Bebbansburgh. It is 




■^k\> „„> 




BAMBOROUGH CASTLE. 



now called Bamborough Castle," and is still standing on 
that rocky coast, a grand and beautiful object : — 

" King Ida's turrets, huge and square, 
From their tall rocks look firmly down, 
And on the swelling ocean frown." 

The conquered Britons felt so deeply this sign of 
their humiliation that they called it " the shame of 
Bernicia." Ida's conquest was called Bemicia, and ex- 
tended from the Tees'* to the Firth of Forth. 



68 EARLY ENGLAND. 

About tliirteen years after the coining of the ' Fhime- 
bearer,' another horde of Angles (under Mia, of whom 
we read in the story of the coming of Christianity 
to the Saxons) landed in the region further south, and 
formed the kingdom of Dcira, in the district now called 
Yorkshire. 

These two northern settlements w^ere united in the 
beginning of the seventh century by Etltclfrltlh. This 
king was Ida's grandson. He married the daughter of 
Ella ; and, having driven into exile her infant brother 
Edwin, the rightful heir, he seized Deira and joined it 
to Bernicia. The strong kingdom thus formed was 
calh^d Northumbria. Ethelfrith also extended his domi- 
nions in all directions. He took Chester from the Britons, 
and destroyed a great monastery at Bangor!' Do not 
forget the exiled prince Edwin,^ of whom you shall soon 
read as becoming one of the greatest of our early 
kings. 

The defeated race were now altogether confined to 
the western part of the island. They no longer formed 
one kingdom. Both at the Severn and in the south 
of Lancashire, their enemies had pushed in between 
them like a wedge, so that the territory still left to 
the Britons was broken up into three separate states. 
Away in the south-west was the district of West Wales, 
which we call Cornwall.'' Separated from this by Wessex 
was a central kingdom named North Wales, now simply 
termed Wales. Finally, there remained the northern 
region of Cumbria or Strathclyde,^ which included West- 
moreland, Cumberland, and the basin of the river Clyde. 

As many as eleven kingdoms of Jutes, Angles, and 
Saxons, have been named. Only seven remained dis- 
tinct for any length of time ; and, accordingly, this is 



THE ANGLES OF THE EAST AND NORTH. 



69 



usually known as the period of the Hcptarcliy^ or seven 
kingdoms. If you look at the map you will see that 
the Angles had by far the largest part of the whole 
country ; and that is why this land came to be called 
England, and its people English. 

Now, the different tribes of invaders had been neigh- 
bours and kinsmen in their old homes in the north of 
Germany ; and they were almost the same in their 



THE SAXON KINGDOMS. 

1. Kent. (1) 

2. Sussex. (2) 

3. Essex. '\ 

^ Essex. (3) 

4. Middlesex. ) 

5. Wessex. (4) 

6. Beniicia. \ 

- Northumbria. (5] 

7. Deira. ) 

S. East Anglia. (6) 
9. Middle Anglia. N 

10. Southumbria. VMcrcia. (7) 

11. Mercia. ) 




manners, habits, language, and religion. It was quite 
natural, then, that they should soon tend to become one 
nation in their new country. Wessex, indeed, was for 
a long time too busy in fighting with the Britons in the 
west to have much intercourse with the other kingdoms 
of the Heptarchy. Kent, however, soon established a 
kind of superiority over Middlesex, Essex, and East 



70 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



Anglia. In tlie north, too, Nortliumbria claimed supre- 
macy over the whole of Mercia. 

We may mention that Nortliumbria soon became the 
most powerful of the kingdoms, and they all acknow- 
ledged its king as their head. The northern district 
was not, however, allowed to keep the chief place, for it 
was humiliated by Mercia, which was for a time the 
leading kingdom. Finally, Wessex came to the front, 
and established a superiority over all the others. Its 
ruler became " king of all England."' 

We should never forget this national consolidation. 
The great nations of the Continent remained for long 
after this broken up into separate parts, and each of 
them had to suffer many hardships before its different 
sections became united. Much of Britain's greatness 
and prosperity resulted from the eai'ly union of its 
various tribes into one strong nation, speaking the same 
language and subject to the same law. Thus the 
country's history clearly teaches the old lesson that 
'' unity is strength." 



1. Northfolk and Southfolk, umv Norfolk aiiJ 

Suffolk. 
'J. Keels, or bouts. Cf. the old Scottish song— 

' 'Woi'l may the keel row.' 

3. Bamborough Castle, fifteen miles south of 

Kerwick. 

4. Tees. The river Tees forms the boundary 

between the counties of Durham and 
York. 

5. Bangor, in Flintshire. There is another 

r.aiigor in Carnai-vonshire, on the shores 
of the Menai Strait. 

6. The story of Edwin is given in pp. 7SS;!. 



7. Cornwall, from the Bi itish corn, a horn, and 

Saxon tcealh, strange or foreiJ,^l ; the name 
thus means the ' Cornish Welsh.' 

8. Strathclyde, the valley of the Clyde. Cf. 

Strathearn, &c. 

9. Heptarchy, from the GreekAe;)<a, seven, and 

ai-che, government. It should be kept in 
mind that Kent was the only kingdom of 
the Jutes; Sussex, Essex, Middlesex and 
Wessex were peopled by the Saxons ; while 
Nortliumbria, Mercia and Kast Anglia (that 
is.the whole of England north of the Thames 
and east of the Sever-n and the Penniuo 
Range) belonged to the Angles. 



THE GODS OF THE EARLY ENGLISH. 71 



THE GODS OF THE EARLY ENGLISH. 

WE have seen how the Angles and Saxons were not 
only more savage than the Welsh Britons whom 
they drove to the west, but even than the Picts^ who had 
formerly come from the north. That was not all, how- 
ever ; the Britons whom they treated so cruelly knew 
something of the Christian religion, while their invaders 
were pagans, and worshipped idols of wood and stone. 

Yet we must not despise our forefathers for this. The 
Greeks and Romans were also heathens ; and although 
the relio-ion of the North was verv o^ross and not so 

O u ID 

beautiful as that of the South, it was far stronger and 
much freer from degrading vice. It was the cliild of 
the lonely pine forests of Scandinavia,^ of the rocky coasts 
swept by the huge ocean-waves, of the cold skies across 
which the black clouds rushed so madly when pursued 
by the shrieking storm-wind. In such a land, manhood 
and strength were the sole conditions of life ; bravery 
and unwearied struggle, even against Nature, were the 
virtues most deserving of honour. The thoughts of 
these old-world warriors had no leisure for things merely 
pretty or beautiful ; their imagination was filled with 
the mightier forces of Nature amidst whose giant-play 
they had been cradled. 

Their chief god was a terrible one, called 0dm or 
IFoden, from whom all the ' Saxon ' princes believed 
they were descended. He was the " father of slaughter, 
the active and roaring deity, who destroys and burns 
everything, and names those who are to be slain." 

Although war was the chief delight of Woden, our fore- 
fathers believed that he watched over the boundaries of 



73 EARLY ENGLAND. 

farms, and punished those who removed their neig'h- 
bour s ' landmarks.' He was also the protector of the 
high-roads, and the traveller looked to him for help. 
We ^hus see that, amidst all their fierce love for combat 
and war, these old English had, as Carlyle says, " a 
hatred of disorder, a hatred of injustice, which is the 
worst form of disorder." 

This fierce god was worshipped all over England, 
and even at the present day we name the middle day 
of the week (Wednesday or Wodenesday) after him. The 
name of this deity is also preserved in such names ay 
Odensee,^ Wednesbury,*^ Woodensburgh,^ and Wansford' 
or Wodensford. 

Another day (Friday) is named from his wife Frcya, 
the goddess of joy and pleasure, love and fruitfulness ; 
and Thor or Thunr, the thunder-god and lord of the 
destroying hammer, gave his name to Thursday. Tiw 
or Tiva^ the god of night and darkness, was worshipped 
on Tuesday ; and Soetere, the god of hate and revenge, 
was propitiated on Soeteresdaeg or Saturday.' INIonday 
was the day of the moon ; and on Sunday they de- 
lighted to praise their Sun-god, ' Balder the Beautiful.' 

Of Thor, the thunder-god, our ancient forefathers had 
some curious tales. His hammer was said to be so heavy 
that it required ten men to carry it. Once, when the god 
was asleep, some of the giants carried it off" to their own 
country, and hid it in a pit which was eight miles deep! 
When Thor awoke, he made a terrible din about the 
missing hammer. At last, a bargain was made between 
the gods and the giants — that, as soon as Thor's hammer 
should be returned to him, the chief of the giants 
should marry the goddess Freya. 

Then the cunning Thor put on Freya's dress, and 



THE GODS OF THE EARLY ENGLISH. 73 

went to visit the giants. Tliey thought it was Freya, 
Ijut began to stare when their guest, by way of refresh- 
ment, ate up an ox and eight sahnon ; and tlie bride- 
groom, when he went close to the bride to salute her, 
started back in terror as he saw the fierce glance of her 
eyes. When the hammer was brought, Thor jumped 
up and seized it ; and, with a terrible shout, he soon 
destroyed every one of the giants ! 

Another story of Thor shows well the rough humour 
of our fathers. The giants taunted the god that he 
could not empty their great drinking-horn. The Thun- 
derer laughed loud as he accepted the challenge, for 
none could drink so deep as he. Seizing the horn, he 
sw^allowed a mighty draught. It was all in vain ! He 
had but lowered the contents of the vessel by a few feet, 
and he was very sad. His rage may be imagined, when 
the knavish giants afterwards confessed that they had 
stuck the opened end of the horn into the German 
Ocean ! So that Thor had been drinking the waters of 
the sea ; and the story sa^^s that he had caused a very 
low tide ! 

These old Goths believed in immortality, and pictured 
to themselves a future life of war and feasting. The 
home of the gods Avas called Valhalla. Into this 
heaven, all the active and brave were received at death. 
Their days were to be spent in joyous combat ; but at 
evening their wounds were to be healed and they were 
to feast together, reclining on couches and drinking 
great draughts of ale from the skulls of the enemies 
they had slain in battle. 

The slothful and cowardly were doomed to abide in a 
dismal land called Nifihcim^ ruled by a terrible goddess 
called Hela. There they dwelt in the house of Anguish, 



74 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



dining at the table of Famine, and sleeping on the couch 
of Leanness ! 



1. Picts, Kop note 5, page 61. 

■J. Scandinavia, i.e., Norway, Sweden, and 

Di-nmark. 
.".. Odensee, in Fnnen. Denmark. 
i. Wednesbury, in Staffordshire, eiglit miles 

iiortli-west of Birmingham. 



5. Woodensburgh, in Kent. 
I). Wansford, iiiXortlianiptonshire, eight miles 
west of Peterborough. 

7. Sometimes wrongly supposed to be named 

from the liojnan god, Saturn. 

8. Niflhedm, i.e., the home of mist. 



HOW THE EARLY ENGLISH BECAME 
CHRISTIANS. 

HOW did the early English become Christians ? It was 
through Gregory the Great/ one of the best of the 
Popes, who delighted in sending missionaries out to vari- 
ous countries. One day, before he was made Pope, he saw 
several children standing in the market-place at Rome to 
be sold as slaves. He was astonished at the rosy cheeks, 
golden hair, and blue eyes of three or four, w^ho were so 
different from the swai'thy captives of the south. 

"Who are these beautiful children?" said the in- 
terested monk. 

" These are Angles," replied the trader. 

" Angles ! " cried he ; " they have the faces of angels, 
and ought to be heirs with the angels of heaven." 

" What is their country?" asked the kindly priest. 

" Deira," was the reply. 

" De ira, from the wrath" responded Gregory. " Ay ! 
they shall be plucked from God's ire, and saved by 
Christ's mercy." 

" What is the name of their king ? " Avas his next 
question. 

" Ella or Alia," they told him. 

" Alleluia," cried he, " the praises of God shall yet be 
sung in their country." 



HOW THE EARLY ENGLISH BECAME CHRISTIANS. 75 

So Gregory found out all he could about the country 
of the Angles or Engles, and we are told that he bought 
some English slaves, in order to learn to speak to them 
in their own tongue. At length, in the year 597^ ^^^ 
heard that Ethelbert ^ the king of Kent had married 
Bertha the daughter of the French king, who was 
already a Christian. Gregory immediately sent a band 
of missionaries, under a zealous priest called Augustine, 
to Kent, with presents for Queen Bertha. 




A very interesting account is given of the landing of 
these monks. 

After they had left Rome, they heard so nmcli about 
the dangers of the way and the savage disposition of the 
islanders, that they turned back. Gregory urged them 
to obey the commands of our Saviour to go " to the ends 
of the earth " and " to teach all nations." They were 



76 



Early England. 



then asliamed of their fears, set out once more, and 
reached our shores in safety. The fair-liaired Kentish 
peasants were surprised to see the dark Italian priests ; 
but they received them kindly, and sent word of their 
coming to the king. 

A throne was set up in the Isle of Thauet,* and on 
it sat Ethelbert and his Queen Bertha, 
while round them stood the great men 
of their kingdom. The band of monks 
advanced, dressed in gorgeous robes of 
silk and gold, each carrying in his hand 
a flashing silver crucifix. They bore 
aloft a picture of our Saviour, and 
seme sang in concert the strains 
of the litany ! — " Turn from this 
city, O Lord, thine anger and 
wrath." They were answered 
by others with the jubilant 
shout of the old Hebrew wor- 
ship, 'Alleluia ' — the very word 
used by Gregory years before, 
when he pitied the young 
English captives in the slave- 
market of Rome. 

In a short time, Ethelbert 
and his wise men agreed to 
forsake Woden and Thor; 
and Augustine was able to 
write a glad letter to Pope Gregory, telling him that the 
king of Kent had been baptized, and that ten thousand 
Jutes had become Christians and were now worshippers 
of the true God. 

Augustine's first church was in Canterbury ;^ and so, 




ST. AUGUSTINE. 



HOW THE ENGLISH BECAME CHRISTIANS. 



77 



by and by, he was made the first bishop. That shows 
you why the Archbishop of Canterbury has ever since 
been the Primate^ of the Church of England. 

Whoever goes to see the gi*and catliedral of Canter- 
bury should not foi^get to visit the little church of St. 
Martin in another part of the same city. That quaint 
old building is where Queen Bertha worshipped God 
before Augustine came. 

In a short time the Saxon king at London also be- 
came a Christian ; and on an island near the Thames 
was built St. Peter's Church, which afterwards became 
Westminster Abbey, one of the most interesting old 
churches in the Avorld. 



1. Gregory the Great became Pope in 590. 

2. Ethelbert was the first Bretwalda. See 

note 5, page 85. 

3. Augustine must not be mistaken for 

Augustine the great father of the Churcli, 
who was bisliop of Hippo, in Africa, about 
2110 years earlier. 

4. Isle of Thanet. To this island the first band 



of our Germanic forefathers came ; here 
the first Christian missionaries lauded ; 
and here also the Danish invaders fii-st 
wntered. 

5. Canterbury, literally the burgh or town of 

the CanHi—the old British tribe from 
whom Kent takes its name. 

6. Primate, the,^«{ or chief bishop. 




ST- ilAKTIN S CHUKCH. 



78 



EARLY ENGLAND. 




THE STORY OF EDWIN OF NORTHUMBRIA. 

OU will remember Edwin 
the infant prince of Deira, 
whose brother-in-law Ethel- 
frith had taken his kingdom 
from him. The little fugitive 
escaped with some faithful 
friends, and spent many 
years in exile. His life 
was often in danger during 
these years of wandering, 
and he had to suffer many 
hardships before he became 
Ei^^'i^^- the great king of all Nor- 

thumbria. The trials he endured were very useful to him, 
for they trained him to be a strong and self-reliant man — 
one whom no difficulties could dishearten, who would 
never sit down idle while any duty remained to be done, 
who was all his life a willing and earnest worker. 

Aftm* much wandering they took refuge with Redwald, 
who was kinor of the East Angeles. When Ethelfrith 
iieard of this, he sent a messaofe to King Redwald, offer- 
ing him money if he would kill Edwin. Redwald refused 
to kill the young prince ; and then Ethelfrith threatened 
to come with an army and ravage his land. This 
message frightened the good king, because Ethelfrith 
had already gained several great battles, and his army 
was much larger than that of the East Anglian king ; 
so he told the messengers to wait for a day or two, and 
that then he would either deliver Edwin into their hands 
(u- have him slain. 



THE STORY OF EDWIN OF NORTHUMBRIA. 79 

When Prince Edwin was told secretly by night of 
the great danger he was in, he refused to steal away 
and save his life by hiding in some other land. He 
said he had given his word to Redwald that he would 
remain with him ; and he must keep his promise. 

A few minutes afterwards, as he sat alone and 
very sad, a strange thing happened. He saw, all at 
once, a man of venerable ^ appearance, who asked if he 
wished to be free from all his sorrows and dangers. 
Edwin said he would give all that he had to be released 
from them. Then his visitor made him promise that 
when he should be restored to his kingdom and sit on 
his father's throne, he would obey him who now foretold 
liis greatness. Edwin promised to do so faithfully when 
the time should come ; and then, after laying his hand 
on Edwin's head for a sign, his strange visitor vanished 
from his sight. 

Starting up, Edwin asked all the servants about his 
visitant ; but no one had seen any stranger, none 
could say anything about him. Then Edwin knew that 
he had seen a vision, and kept the cheering message 
safe in his memory. 

Next day, King Redwald told the Northumbrian 
messengers that he would not give up Edwin into their 
hands, because he had given his promise as a king to 
protect his guest. So Ethelfrith gathered a great army 
of the North Angles to fight against the East Anafles. 
Redwald met him in Nottinghamshire, and there Ethel- 
frith was totally defeated and slain. By that battle ^ on 
the banks of the Idle,^ Edwin regained his father's crown, 
and became king over all the country from the Humber 
to the Forth. 

A¥lien holding court in his city by the river Derwent,* 



So EARLY ENGLAND. 

a message was brought to Edwin from the king of 
Wessex ; and as he sat listening, the messenger drew 
a poisoned dagger and rushed forward to strike him. 
One of the king's thanes threw himself before the 
treacherous assassin, and saved Edwin's life at the 
cost of his own ; but such was the force of the mur- 
derous blow that the king was wounded by the dagger 
after it had pierced the thane's body. On recovering, 
Edwin made war on the West Saxons and conquered 
them, thus reaching the height of his greatness. 

Edwin now not only reigned over all Northnmbria, 
but he became the greatest of all the kings in the whole 
country, and was called Brctwalda,^ or chief ruler in 
Britain, being over-lord of every other king or chief, 
Vr^hether in Mercia, or Wessex, or East Anglia, or Wales. 
]\ent alone remained independent. 

King Edwin built Udwin's-hurgh, which we now call 
Edinburgh, and that shows how far north his kingdom 
went. 

He and his people were still heathens, but he mar- 
ried the Christian daughter of the king of Kent. Once 
when he was going to battle, King Edwin said that 
if he returned victorious he would believe in the GolI 
worshipped by his wife and her bishop. After having 
defeated his enemy, he no longer went to the temples 
of Woden or Thor ; and one day as he sat alone, his 
queen's bishop, Paulinus, came and laid his hand on 
the kind's head. Edwin then remembered the sis^n of 
liis strange visitor at Redwald's palace, and fell at the 
bishop's feet, saying he would obey him in everything. 

After this, Edwin with all his thanes and wise men 
were baptized ; and a Christian church was built in 
York, the capital city. The rude building thus made 



THE STORY OF EDWIN OF NORTHUMBRIA. 



Si 



by these North Angles afterwards became York Minster, 
one of the finest cathedrals anywhere to be seen. Paul- 
inus was the first archbishop of the see. 

A meetinof of the wise men of Northumbria was held 




EDINBURGH CASTLE. 



to hear what Paulinus had to say, and to decide about 
the new religion, Coifi, the high-priest of Woden and 
Thor, confessed that his gods had never done any good 
to those who served them. 



(H. 2.) 



82 



EARLY ENGLAND. 




OOIFI DESTROYINa THE TEMPLE OF WODEN ANU THOK. 



THE STORY OF EDWIN OF NORTHUMBRIA. 83 

An aged warrior tlien spoke ; his hair was white with 
years, and his face was seamed with the scars of old 
battles ; he was as wise in council as he had been brave 
in war, and all listened reverently to his words. 

" O king ! " said he, " the life of man is like this. 
You sit in the hall with your wise men and thanes about 
you. On a winter's night the fire burns brightly on the 
hearth, and all within is glowing warmth and comfort ; 
but out of doors the icy wind bites bitterly, and rain 
mingled with snow chills the blood. Driven by the cruel 
storm, a sparrow cometh in at the one door of the hall, 
and enjoy eth for a little time the light and the heat. Anon 
it flieth out at the other door into the fierce tempest, and 
we see it no more. Such is the life of man ! It is but 
for a moment, and we know not what was before it, nor 
what cometh hereafter. If Paulinus can tell us whence 
we came and whither we go, let us hear his words and 
obey his God." 

Then Paulinus preached to them the story of creation 
and the gospel of future happiness through the salvation 
of Jesus Christ. Their hearts melted within them, and 
they wept for joy. 

" The Council closed, the priest, in full career, 
Rides forth an armed man and hurls a spear 
To desecrate the fane which heretofore 
He served in folly. Woden falls, and Thor 
Is overturned." 

Thus it was that Northumbria became Christian. 



1. Venerable, worthy of reverence. 

2. The battle was fought in 017. 
3 Idle, a tributary of the Trent. 

4. Derwent, a tributary of the Ouse. There 13 
niifitlier Dt-rwent. a tributary of the Trent. 

6. Bretwalda, probably means 'powerful king.' 
Some say it is equivalent to " Broad 



wielder,' i e.. Wide Ruler. In some books 
it is erroneously supposed to mean ' Ruler 
of Britain.' 
C. The priests of the Saxons were not allowed 
to ride on a horse nor to cany weapons. 
Coifi thus showed his contempt for the old 
religion. ' 



— -S-3^€^t<t^ 



84 EARLY ENGLAND. 

THE MERCIAN HEATHENS. 

MANY of the English people, however, still believed 
in the gods Woden and Tlior; and Penda, king of 
Mercia, joined the king of Wales to make war upon 
Edwin of Northunibria because he had been baptized. 
So King Edwin met the heathen Penda in the fatal 
battle of Heathfield} by the river Trent, which, alas ! was 
his last undertaking. The great and good Bretwalda 
lost his life in the fight, and was beheaded on the 
field. His head was carried home by the sorrowing 
Angles of the North, and buried in the porch of his 
own church of York. 

The heathen host spread slaughter over the whole of 
Northumbria. The good Queen Bertha fled to Kent^ 
where she ended her days in a convent she had pre- 
viously built ; and with her went the aged Paulinus, 
who became bishop of Rochester. Heathenism was 
left triumphant in the kingdom of the dead Edwin.^ 
Next, Penda turned upon East Anglia ; and, 
having defeated its king with great slaughter, 
he re-established paganism there, and destroyed 
the Christian churches which had been built 
above the ancient temples of Woden and Thor. 
The two successors of Edwin fought bravely 
for the Christian faith. The first of these, 
Oswald, had been taught in lona^ by the fol- 
lowers of St. Columba.* Bishop Aidan, one of 
IONIC CROSS, -(^j^ggQ northern missionaries, who succeeded 
the fugitive Paulinus, founded a monastery in the island 
of Lindisfarne.^ Oswald helped these good Culdees to 
spread tlie gospel over all those parts of England which 
were still heathen. But, alas ! the cruel Penda was still 




THE MERCIAN HEATHENS. 85 

the powerful upholder of paganism. Full of fury, he 
totally defeated the Christian army in the great battle 
of Maserfield.^ The pious Oswald was slain and his 
body mutilated, and Penda established his religion 
even over Wessex. 

At last came the day of retribution. Osiay, the next 
king of Northumbria, met the Mercian host on the 
banks of the Winwed, near Leeds. ^ There perished 
the now aged Penda, and with him fell the heathendom 
he had so mightily supported. 

Soon after the death of Penda, the Mercians also be- 
came Christians. As Augustine had taught the gospel 
in Kent and Paulinus in Northumbria, so Chad baptized 
the Angles of Penda's kingdom ; and if you visit the 
famous cathedral of Lichfield,'^ you will see that it is. 
named St. Chad's, because he was bishop of that see. 

King" Ofifa the Terrible. — Long after the heathen 
Penda was dead, there was a very powerful king of Mercia 
whom men called Offa the Terrible. He made Mercia 
the strongest kingdom in ^^--^'^tt,, -"'^^^'''^fK 

England, just as Edwin had /^<S:irh^.\ y4^^; fe\ 
made Northumbria. Offa rt)[f/5^X^~(3>:(-\')3 
conquered much of the \^::^}^:^^y '^'\ysi"''h^ 
Welsh country to the west 'Vr^^fc--*^" '''•^kk^£>' 

of the Severn, and, to keep sh-vkr penny of offa, kino of mercia. 
the Welsh back, he made a huge dyke, which can yet l;e 
partly seen. This earthen rampart was a hundred miles 
long, and stretched from the Dee to the mouth of the 
Severn. Portions may still be traced, and to this day 
it is called by the Welsh ' Clawdd Offa.' This brilliant 
king was respected by Charles the Great, the famous 
Emperor of the Franks, who sent him a Hungarian 
sword, a baldric,^ and two silken cloaks. 



86 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



Offa made some good laws, and encom-aged learning ; 
but towards the end of liis long reign he was guilty of 
a base crime. Ethelbert, the young king of the East 
Angles, had agreed with Offa that he should marry Offa's 
daughter, and when he came to Mercia to fetch away 
his bride, he was murdered in the court of the palace at 
Tamworth.^" The cruel Mercian instantly took possession 
of Ethelbert's kingdom. Four years later (796), the 
terrible Offa died and was buried at Bedford. 



1. Heathfleld, now Hatfield, in the West Riding 

of York, near tlie river Don. 

2. Edwin was killed in G13. 

3. lona, or.Icolmkill, one of the Inner Hebrides, 

famous for the ruins of the Cathedral, &i;., 
founded by St. Columba in SilS. M.any 
of the old Pictish, Irish, Norwegian, and 
even Freni-h kings were buried here. 

4. St. Columba (520 to 597). He w;is an Iiiili 

njissioiiary, who, having founded aniimas- 
tery at loua, devoted himself to the eun- 



version of the Picts. His successors carried 

the gospel even to Iceland. 
5. Lindisfame, hence called Holy Island, off 

the coast of Northumberland, 
fi. Maserfield, now Oswestry, in Shropshire. 
7. Leeds, on the Aire in the West Hiding of 

York : now the great centre of the woollen 

manufacture. 
S. Lichfield, near the Tame, a tributary of the 

Trent, in Staffordshire. 
!l. Baldric, a sword-belt. 
II). Tamworth, on the Tame in Staffordshire. 



HOW WESSEX BECAME SUPREME. 

OU have seen how powerful 
Northumbria became under 
Edwin, and then how Mer- 
cia became still more so 
under tlie heathen Penda and 
Ofi'a the Terrible ; but soon 
a third kingdom was to prove 
itself stronger than them 
both. The Angles of the 
north and middle country 
were soon to be ruled by 
the Saxon kings of Wessex ; 
till at last, when those three 
joined together under one 




principal kingdoms were 



HOW WESSEX BECAME SUPREME. 87 

Over-lord, the whole English people became one nation. 
We must therefore find out how Wessex rose to be 
the first kingdom in all the land, and then see what 
came of it. 

The settlers in Wessex had a much longer contest with 
the Britons than any of the other tribes of Angles or 
Saxons had. Although often victorious, they were again 
and again defeated, and it was only after years of con- 
stant struggle that their kingdom was firmly established. 
In this way, the West Saxons became the most martial 
of the Saxon tribes, and this prepared them to take the 
first place among the English states. 

The good King" Ina. — Amidst many warlike and 
successful kings, the West Saxons had two who may be 
called 'Great.' The first of these was Ini^ or Ina, who 
was not only a skilful warrior but a wise and prudent 
ruler. He took Somerset from the Britons, and founded 
the town of Taunton? It is remarkable that he was the 
first of the Saxon conquerors who treated the vanquished 
people with justice and humanity. He allowed all of 
them to retain their property, encouraged marriages 
between them and the Saxons, and ruled all his subjects 
alike with strict impartiality. 

The laws of his countrv, before his time roug-h and 
unwritten, he gathered into a ' Code,' long known as the 
' Laws of the good King Ina.' Indeed, his long reign 
of thirty-seven years was a glorious one, and Wessex 
became very prosperous. Like his great descendant 
Alfred, he was anxious to encourage learning and 
learned men. He took one curious way of doing 
this. He asked every head of a household who could 
afford it to send him a penny.^ These pennies he sent 
to Rome to build a school for the English. Many of the 



88 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



people went there to study, and tliis did much to elevate 
the Saxons. 

The wise government of this great king still further 
prepared Wessex for its grand position as the sovereign 
state of all England — the very heart of what is now so great 
an empire. Wessex continued to be strong ; for, twenty- 
seven years after the death of Ina, the West Saxons 
gained a splendid victory over the king of Mercia on the 
banks of the Windrush.^ This battle marks the actual 
beginning of the ascendency of Wessex. 

Ina built a famous monastery at Glastonbury, on the 
site of the old British abbey where King Arthur was said 
to have been buried. 

Egbert, the Bright-eyed. — But the greatest king of 
the blood of Cerdic the founder of the West Saxons, was 
Eijhcrt^ who attained to such power that he was called 

Bretwalda, or powerful 



king. Like Edwin of 
Northumbria, he had 
been driven into exile 
by a usurper, and the 
hardships of his youth 
well fitted him to become 
a strong prince. For fifteen years he lived in France, where 
he won the regard of the illustrious Charlemagne. In the 
service of this great prince, he was trained not only 
in the art of war, but in the principles of enliglitened 
government. He was taught also that a people to be 
strong must be educated, and that the smaller states of 
a country should all be joined under one ruler. These 
lessons he sought to carry out, when, upon the death of 
the usurper, he was called to the throne of Wessex. 
He first established his supremacy over the Britons' 




SILVER PENNY OF" EGBERT. 



HOW WESSEX BECAME SUPREME. 89 

both of Cornwall and of Wales. The king of Mercia, 
who had subdued East Anglia, Essex, and Kent, now 
invaded Wessex, but was completely defeated in the 
gfreat battle of Ellanchin^ 

The tributary kingdoms were then easily conquered, 
and in 827 Mercia acknowledged Egbert as Over-lord, 
Northumbria, which was in a state of anarchy, at once 
yielded without a struggle. Both of these great states 
were allowed to choose their own kings, but they had 
to pay a regular tribute to Wessex. 

Finally, Egbert defeated the Britons of Cornwall (along 
with the terrible Danes, of whom you will read in the 
next lesson) in the great battle of Hcngestcsdun or Heng- 
sfon;'' and two years later he captured Chester, the capital 
of Gwynedd, the British kingdom of North Wales. Eg- 
bert was thus lord of all the English race ; not only the 
Saxons of the south, but the Angles of the east and the 
north also acknowledged his supremacy. 

Every state admitted his power as Over-lord, fi-om the 
German Ocean on the east to the Irish Sea on the west, 
and from the Roman walls of Pevensey on the south 
coast to the Castle of Edinburgh in the far north. The 
' Golden Dragon ' of the West Saxons was now everv- 
where triumphant. 

Although Egbert kept his old title ' King of the West 
Saxons,' yet he should be regarded as ' King of the Eng- 
lish; '^ and in many histories he is called the '.Fivst King 
of all Enofland.' 



1. Ina ruled from 6S8 to 725. 

2. Taunton on the Tone in Somerset. 

3. Tlie money collected in this way was called 

Rom-feoh or Rome-scot, aftenvards imposed 
npon all England under the name of Peter's 
Fence ; finally abolished in the reign of 
Henry VIII. in 1534. 

4. Windrush, a tributary of the Thames. 



5. Egbert came to the throne of Wesse-x in 

SOO. 
fi. EUandnn, near Wilton in Wiltshire. 

7. Hengston, in Cornwall, near the Tamar. 

8. Egbert, in a few of his charti'rs, did style him- 

self 'l!ex Anglorum,' that is, King of the 
Angles, or English. 



90 



EARLY ENGLAND. 







THE DANES. 

DURING King Egbert's time, and for several reigns 
afterwards, the English people were terribly plagued 
by hosts of sea-rovers who sailed over from Norway and 
Denmark. These Danes were quite as savage as the 
early forefathers of the English themselves had ever 
been, and wherever they landed they killed and plun- 
dered without mercy. The figure-heads of their ships 
were generally monsters with open mouths, and the 
sterns were carved like a dragon's tail. They seemed to 
delight in tempests, as if the ocean was their home, 
and to have no other pursuit or object than bloodshed, 
robbery, and destruction. Such was the ferocity of 
their mad daring, that the very sight of their standard, 
tlie ' Black Raven,' caused horror on every coast. 

So numerous were those savage pirates, that when 
one crew was defeated in one place, another larger one 
was certain to land at another place. East Anglia, 
Yorkshire, all Northumbria, were soon at their mercy. 



THE DANES. 



91 




DANISH SHIPS. 



92 EARLY ENGLAND 

In Norfolk their daring leaders/ the two sons of 
Lodbrog (whose story you will find in the next section), 
ordered Edmund, the king of that country, to worship 
Odin, and abandon Christ. When he refused to do 
so, they tied him to a tree and shot him to death with 
arrows. That is why the last king of the East Angles 
is called a martyr, and the beautiful abbey of St. 
Edmunds^ took its name from him. There are many 
churches in Norfolk and Suffolk where they show 
pictures of the good king pierced by the arrows. 

Those fierce Northmen delighted to plunder, burn, and 
destroy every church and abbey they came to, one 
]'eason being that they found more gold, silver, and 
other valuable booty, in them than anywhere else. They 
thought nothing of murdering priests at the altar, or 
tossing little children on the points of their spears ; 
but they sometimes spared the men and women, in order 
to sell them as slaves. 

Regnar Lodbrog-. — One of the most daring of the 
pirate Danes was King Lodbrog, and his name is better 
known because he was also a poet, and wrote a famous 
death-song, which he is said to have sung with terrible 
glee when undergoing torments. Lodbrog sailed the 
German Ocean with his pirate crew till one day a 
storm scattered his fleet, and his ship was wrecked 
on the rocky shores of Northumbria. His enemies were 
delighted to have the wild pirate at their mercy ; and 
Ella,^ the English king, ordered him to be thrown, 
bound hand and foot, into a pit full of snakes, so that 
he might be stung to death. It is said that Lodbrog 
never quailed for an instant, but met his cruel fate 
with disdainful laughter as he loudly sang his death- 
son2 : — 



THE DANES. . 93 

" We fought with our swords ! 

" In my boyhood we fought towards the east ; we made torrents 
of blood flow to gorge the beasts of prey and the yellow-footed binl. 
There the liard steel sounded on the lofty helmets. The whole 
sea was blood. The crow waded in the gore of the slain ! 

"We fought with our swords ! 

" In my twentieth year we lifted our spears on high, and every- 
where we spread our renown. Eight barons we overcame in the 
east, and plentifully we feasted the eagle by that slaughter. Tlie 
hot stream of wounds ran into the ocean. The army fell before us. 

" We fought with our swords ! 

" In more than fifty battles have I raised my flag. When a 
youth I learned to make my sword red, and my hope was that no 
king would be more renowned. The goddesses of death will soon, 
call to me ! Death is no sorrow ! 

" We fought with our swords ! 

" Now I end my song ! The goddesses call me away, they 
whom Odin has sent from his hall to meet me. Seated aloft, I 
shall joyfully drink ale with the goddesses of death ! The hours 
of my life are run out. With a smile shall I die ! " 

Such are some of tlie twenty-nine verses of Lodbrog's 
(leatli-song, which was often sung by the Danes ; and 
many of those who hinded in the North said they had 
come to take revenge on the English for his death. 
However that may be, we know that they terribly 
liarassed France, Scotland, and Ireland, and became 
masters of all the north, middle, and east of England. 
In fact, it was not till the reign of Egbert's grandson, 
Alfred, that our country really had peace with those 
Northmen, and it is of that famous reign that we must 
now tell the story. 

I. Bury St. Edmunds, in Suffolk, on the Lark, I 2. Ella was the under-king of Northumbria. 

11 ti ibutiiry of the Great Ouse. > 



SAXO:^ ET^GLAITD 




ALFRED AS ATHELING OR PRINCE. 



95 



IV. ALFRED THE GREAT AND HIS 
FAMILY. 

ALFRED AS ATHELING ^ OR PRINCE. 



LFRED THE GREAT is 

not only the best of all the 
kings who have reigned 
in England, but he is 
also one of the best men 
that have ever appeared 
in any country. His whole 
life was spent for the good 
of his people ; and so wisely 
and successfully did he 
rule, that the English race 
will for ever be proud of 
him. 



" Tlie Great by right divine thou only art ! 
Fair star, that crowns tlie front of England's morn, 
Royal with Nature's royalty inborn, 
And English to the very heart of heart ! " * 

It was in the face of many difficulties and dangers 
that King Alfred had to work and strive. Without 
great strength of mind, without long-continued patience, 
without unwearied energy, he could never have done so 
much for his country and his people. 

Alfred had three brothers older than himself, who 
one after another wore the crown ; and during their 
reigns, as well as in that of his father, Ethelwulf, " the 




Francis T. Palgrave, ' Visions ef England.' 



96 EARLY ENGLAND. 

English people were terribly afflicted by tlie Danes. 
You remember liow these Norsemen plagued King 
Egbert, Alfred's grandfather ; since that time, the wild 
sea-rovers had crossed the German Ocean in such num- 
bers that the English had been forced to give up a great 
part of the land to them. 

The mild and indolent disposition of Alfred's father 
unfitted him for the duties of a king in such troublous 
times. In his reign, the Danes for the first time ven- 
tured to %ointer in England. He thought more of Alfred 
than of any of his other sons, and wished him to be his 
successor. But the Witan decided that Ethelbald,'^ the 
eldest son, should succeed. His reign is destitute of 
any great event. 

The short reign of Ethelbert^ was marked by an 
inroad of Danes, who destroyed Winchester, but were 
finally driven off by the men of Hampshire and Berk- 
shire. When Ethelred,^ the third son of Ethelwulf, 
came to the throne, the chief leaders of the invaders 
were the sons of Regnar Lodbrog. By the year 871, 
the ' heathens ' (as the Danes were then called) had 
become masters of East Anglia, of Northumbria, and 
nearly all Mercia, so that not much had been left for the 
English. 

In the beginning of that year, the Danes made a 
fierce attempt to seize Wessex also. In no less than 
nine battles the two royal brothers, Ethelred and Alfred, 
led the English against the invaders. One battle was 
fought at Reading^ on the Thames, where the English 
had the worst of it ; but, four days afterwards, they had 
their revenge upon the Danes in the famous battle of 
Ashdmvn^ in the same county. 

The Danes had two armies, one commanded by two 



KING ALFRED'S BOYHOOD. 



97 



kings, and the other by five earls. King Ethelred pre- 
pared to meet the first ; while his brother, Alfred the 
Atheling, went to attack the second. The Danish earls ^ 
had drawn up their army on a height, but Alfred ad- 
vanced against the invaders with such courage that they 
were totally defeated and their five leaders slain. Alfred's 
brother was also successful, and killed one of the Norse 
kings with his own hand. 

The brave Ethelred did not long survive this battle ; he 
died at Easter^ in that same year (some say from a wound 
received in fighting the Danes), and left his troubled 
kingdom to Alfred, then only twenty-two years of age. 



1. Atheling, or Etheliiig. was a title of the king's 

son, especially if burn during his father's 
reign. The word Athel, ' noble,' is also 
seen in Athelney, yEthelstan, i&c, and the 
(patronymic) ending -ing ia seen in the 
word ' king ' or kyning. 

2. EthelwTilf, «36-8o7. 

3. Ethelbald, 857-860. 

4. Ethelbert, 8(i0-86ti. 
5 Ethelred, 8r)0-871. 

6. Reading, in Berkshire, at the Junction of the 

Keniict and the Thames. Alfred was born 
at Wantage, in the same county, A.D. 
849. 

7. Ashdown ('the hill of the ash"), near Itead- 

ing, in Berks. The success of the English 



in this battle is said to have been due to tlie 
impetuous valuur of Alfred, who with half 
of the army defeated the Danes while his 
brother Ethelred was praying for victory. 

8. Earls. The title 'eiirl,' given to the great 

rulers of the country, was derived from 
the Danish jarl. About the year 1020 it 
was applied to the Sa.xon eaUlormen, or 
chief magistrates. The Saxons seem to 
have confused the Danish jarl with their 
own term eorl, which simply means 
'noble.' 

9. Easter, the first Sunday after Good Friday" 

commemorates the resurrection of Christ. 
The word is derived from Eostre, the Saxon 
goddess of spring. 



KING ALFRED'S BOYHOOD. 

THOUGH Alfreds youth had been spent in constant 
war with the savage Danes, yet he had enjoyed 
many pleasant days in his boyhood. 

When he was only four or five years of age, his 
father. King Ethelwulf, sent him on a journey to 
Rome. Two years afterwards, they went there together 
to pay their respects to the Pope, and pray at the 
great altar of St. Peter. 

Now, on such a journey, the young prince must have 

(H. 2.) Q 



9& 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



learned much ; and, as they went through France and 
Italy, crossing mountains and rivers, his father no doubt 
pointed out to him many marvels that he would never 
forget. Not only did he see Rome, with its beautiful 
buildings, but he also visited the court of the king of 
the Franks,^ which was then much more splendid than 
anything to be seen in England. 

Alfred and his father stayed about a year in Rome. 




ALFKED AND THE QUEEN. 



On their way home, they were for some time entertained 
by Charles the Bald,^ king of France, who gave his 
daughter Judith to be King Ethelwulfs second wife. 
Thus the little Prince Alfred came to take part in a 
grand marriage ceremony, which took place in the 
Cathedral ^ of Rheims,'* one of the most beautiful build- 
ing's in France. 



KING ALFRED'S BOYHOOD. 



99 



Queen Judith was afterwards married to the Count 
of Flanders,^ and so became an ancestor of Matilda of 
Flanders, the wife of William the Conqueror. 

Bishop Asser,^ who was a dear friend of Alfred the 
Great, tells us many stories about him. When Alfred 
was a little boy, he learned to read sooner than his big 
brothers ; and this is how the good bishop accounts for 
it. They were all fond of hearing the old ballads and 
English songs, as boys still are ; and one day the queen 
showed the boys a book full of such poems, all beauti- 
fully illuminated ^ with pictures and borders in red, and 
blue, and gold. The three princes were full of admira- 
tion for the book, and the queen said, " Whoever shall 
first be able to read me one of those pretty songs will 
have the book for a prize ! " 

No doubt the queen knew very well who would gain 
the prize. It was Alfred, the youngest of the brothers, 
who afterwards became a very good scholar, as you shall 
see presently. The other brothers knew a great deal 
more about horses, hawks, and hounds, about crossbows, 
spears, and swords, than they did of reading and writing, 
poems and histories. 

Alfred, however, though so fond of books, thoroughly 
enjoyed all outdoor sports. We are told by Bishop 
Asser that he was very expert in feats of strength and 
activity, and was " excellent cunning ^ in all hunting." " 
He was often seen among the foremost in the chase, 
tracking the wild boar or wild bull, shooting the red- 
deer on the moors of Devon, or the eagle as he flew 
over the woods of Berkshire, or spearing the salmon 
which then abounded in the Thames. 

That Alfred was a brave and skilful soldier was 
abundantly proved in the nine battles which were 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



fought ill tlie last year of the reign of his brother 
Ethelred. 



1. Franks. The Franks were a Oermaii tribe 

who first invaded Gaul in 256, and esta- 
blished the kingdom in 418. From them 
the modern name ' France ' is derived, 
and perhaps also the English adjective 
•frank," meaning 'free.' Cf. the word 
' slave ' from ' Sclav.' 

2. Charles the Bald, one of the three grandsons 

of Charlemagne. His brother Louis be- 
came Emperor of Germany, and his eldest 
brother Lothaire received Italy. 

.". Cathedral, liter.ally a bishop's seat; applied 
to the principal church in every diocese. 

4. Rheims was formerly the ecclesiastical metro- 
polis of France ; in its cathedral the French 
monarchs .were crowned. The city stands 
on a plain between the Rlarne and the 
Aisne, two tributaries of the Seine, about 
ninety miles to the east of Paris. 



5. Flanders, at that time an independent state 

ruled by its Count, is now included in 

Belgium and France. 
C. Asser, a Welshman, educated at St. David's, 

a man of great genius ; chief work, ' The 

Life and Acts of Alfred.' 

7. Illuminated. Before the introduction of 

printing, manuscripts were often orn.a- 
inented with beautifully-painted borders 
and pictures ; such an MS. is said to be 
' illuminated.' 

8. 'Excellent cunning.' That is, 'exceeding 

clever." The word 'cunning' formerly 
meant ' knowing ' or ' skilful." 

9. Alfred afterwards wrote a book upon 

hawking ; and, at one time, himself in- 
structed his hawkers, falconers, and hound- 
trainers. 



KING ALFRED BRAVE IN TROUBLE. 

FROM liis boyhood till he became a man, Alfred had 
almost constantly fought against the Danes ; and 
when his brother died, and he was made king, the English 
in Wessex were still in the thick of the struggle. That 
same year there was a great battle at Wilton^ near the 
cathedral town of Salisbury in Wiltshire. Here Alfred 
defeated the Danes, and forced them to make peace 
with him. 

After this, for three or four years, the young king and 
his people were left undisturbed by the terrible invaders. 
The Danes, however, were not idle elsewhere ; many more 
of them settled in Northumbria and Scotland, as well 
as in Mercia and East Anglia. 

During that time of peace. King Alfred accomplished 
a great work — he built the first Enfilish fi.cet. He said, 
' Long ago the English were as good sailors as these 
hateful Danes ; why should we not build some ships and 
fight them on sea ? ' This was a splendid thought ; and 



KING ALFRED BRAVE IN TROUBLE. loi 

to the present day its fleet has been the safeguard of 
England. 

So the English built and equipped some ships ; and 
when the Danes sailed to the coast of Dorset, thinking 
to land there just as they had landed and plundered in 
a hundred other places, they were attacked by Alfred's 
little fleet and driven back with the loss of one of their 
ships. Therefore, when you hear of battles gained at sea 
by Englishmen, remember that the first naval victory 
was won by Alfred the Great. 

So was the second. Next time, the Danes, in much 
greater force, marched southward under their king, 
Guthrum. After taking oaths upon the ' holy golden 
bracelet ' ^ that they would leave Alfred's kingdom, 
they made a cowardly attack upon him as he was riding 
with a small force to Winchester.^ Alfred, however, 
escaped, and speedily pursued the false Danes to Exeter,* 
where they had gone expecting to be joined by another 
army of invaders sailing round from the Thames. Now 
was the moment for the new English fleet ; helped 
by a storm which arose, Alfred's ships bravely met the 
Danish vessels at the mouth of the river Exe, and in a 
short time the second English victory at sea was gallantly 
won. Peace was made, and the Danes gave King Alfred 
the pledges that he asked for, and then withdrew as far 
as Gloucester.^ 

The King in the Swineherd's Hut. — King Alfred's 
troubles were not yet over. His false enemies were as 
cunning as they were cruel. Having been joined by 
some new Danes who had sailed up the Severn to Glou- 
cester, the perfidious Guthrum suddenly fell upon King 
Alfred in mid-winter. The English were surprised, so 
that they had no time to prepare for battle ; and the 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



fierce Danes were soon masters of the wliole of Wessex. 
Some of the English took refuge in Wales, others in 
the Isle of Wight,'' and a few sailed to the Continent. 
What did their kinu: do ? 




ALFRED AND THE CAKES. 



King Alfred did not lose heart. In Somerset, there 
were then many woods and mai'shes ; and ho resolved to 



KING ALFRED BRAVE IN TROUBLE. 



103 



hide tliere with a few of his chief friends, so as to be safe 
from the Danes. There, in the midst of an extensive 
moorland, they chose an island, on which they hastily 
built a fort. And the place to this day, although it no 
longer has any marshes about it, is called Atlielncy^ which 
means ' Princes' Island.' 

Bishop Asser tells us that King Alfred at one time 
was in such danger from the ' heathens,' ^ that he dis- 
guised himself as a poor countryman, and went to live 
with a swineherd. This man had formerly fought in the 
king's army against the Danes, and Alfred and his friends 
knew that he could be trusted, but they warned him not 
to tell his wife. 

So one day, when Alfred had come into the hut, the 
swineherd's wife told him to watch some cakes of bread 
which she had placed on the hearth. She then went to 
attend to some of her other duties ; and Alfred, being 
busy with some of his hunting gear,^ or perhaps thinking 
of something more important than cakes, forgot all about 
the honest woman's orders. When she came back, she 
found her bread smoking and burning, while her guest 
sat quietly by as if nothing were the matter ! No need 
to tell you how she scolded him. She said he was an 
idle, stupid fellow ; reminding him that he would be 
glad enough to eat the cakes, although he hadn't sense 
enough to turn them. 

" This unlucky woman," says the good Bishop (who 
may often have heard the story told by his royal master 
himself), " little thought she was talking to the King 
Alfred." 



Wilton was at one time the chief town of 

Wesscx, and gave it3 name to the tounty 
of Wilts. 
This was said by the Danes to be the most 
solemn and binding of all oaUia. Alfred, 



however, made the ' truce-breakers ' swear 
also upon some Christian relics. 
Winchester, in Hampsliiro, the ' Venta Eel- 
garum ' of the Romans, was the capital 
of England up to the year 1156. It stands 



I04 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



in the fertile valley of the Itohen, about 
eleven miles north of Southampton. 

4. Exeter, a cathedral city on the river Exe in 

Devonshire. 

5. Gloucester, the 'Glevum'of the Romans, on 

the left hank of the Severn. 

6. Isle of Wight, the • Garden of England," is 

extremely beautiful and fertile. It is 
separated from the mainland by the Solent 
and Spitbead. Osborne, near Cowes, is a 
favourite residence of the Queen. 

7. Athelney, in Somersetshire, at the Junction 



of the Tone and the Parret. The affix aj 
means island, and is also used in many 
other names of islands, such as Sheppey 
(Sheep's Island), Orkney (Whales' IslaiKl), 
Ac. 

8. Heathen, literally 'dwellers in the heath.' 

The synonymous VFord, Pagan, literally 
jneans ' dwellers in the villages: The out- 
lying villages and districts were the last 
to embrace Christianity. 

9. Gear, literally that which has been pre})arcU 

for any purjjosc, here means weapons. 



A PRINCE LIVING AS A PEASANT. 

TWTETHINKS it were a happy life, 

■^ To be no better than a homely swain, i 
To sit upon a hill as I do noAV, 
To carve out dials ^ quaintly, point by point, 
Thereby to see the minutes how they run. 
How many make the hour full complete. 
How many hours bring about the day. 
How many days will finish up the year, 
How many years a mortal man may live. 
So minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years, 
Passed over to the end they are created. 
Would bring white hairs to a quiet grave. 
Ah, what a life were this ; how sweet, how lovely ! 
Gives not the hawthorn-bush a sweeter shade 
To shepherds looking on their silly^ sheep, 
Than doth a rich-embroidered canopy* 
To kings, that fear their subjects' treachery ! 



1. Swain, literally a servant, hibourcr. 

'J. Dials, sun-dials were used for marking the 

time (if the day before the invention of 

watches. 



3. Silly, innocent, happy, harmless. 

4. Canopy, literally a curtain for keeping off 

gnats or mosciuitoes ; here means a cover- 
ing. 




KING ALFRED CONQUERS THE DANES. 



loS 



KING ALFRED CONQUERS THE DANES, AND 
FOUNDS A GREAT KINGDOM. 

KING ALFRED, when in his fort at Athelney, was 
quietly preparing to make another attempt to 
drive the Danes from Wessex; and in a few months, 
he ordered all his thanes to gather their men rotund 
his standard. At that 
moment, the glad news 
was brought to Athel- 
ney that the English in 
Devon had risen against 
an army of Danes who 
had just landed there, 
and had killed eight 
hundred and forty of 
them, including their 
chief, HuHba. 

The messenger from 
Devon also told Alfred 
that the Danish 'Raven' 
had been taken, and this 
also was good news to 
many of the English. 
This ' Raven ' was a 
famous banner, said to 
have magical ^ powers, 

-,-■■,. -1 , T • Alfrkd's Jewel, found in the Isle of Atliel- 

ancl believea to brmg ney. The inscription means, 'Alfred had 

victory to the Danes, mewrougi.. 
because it had been worked by the hands of the famous 
King Lodbrog's daughters. Lodbrog,^ as you may re- 
member, was the fierce Danish chief who was put to 
death by the English of Northumbria ; and whose cruel 




io6 EARLY ENGLAND. 

fate the Danes often said they were avenging, when they 
plundered and slaughtered the English. 

So King Alfred and his thanes, and all the brave 
Englishmen they could find, gathered together at 'Eg- 
bert's Stone ' near the forest of Selwood.^ Many who met 
there did not know it was the king who had summoned 
them ; and it is said there was great joy in the army at 
the sight of Alfred, whom some had thought to be dead. 
They were eager to fight again under their king, and 
marched with such readiness and quickness, that Gutli- 
rum and his people were taken by surprise and completely 
beaten. Thus the English gained the famous battle of 
Ethamlunc} It was fought only a short distance from 
the place of Alfred's defeat five months before. 

Whoever goes to see the field where this great victoiy 
of Alfred's was won will also see a figure of a huge white 
horse on the side of a hill near the spot, which some say 
was cut in remembrance of this battle. 

After this defeat. King Guthrum agreed to lead all 
the Danes out of Wessex, and also to become a Christian. 
This agreement between Alfred and Guthrum is called 
the treaty of Wedmo7'e,^ because Alfred had a palace there, 
and his Witan^ (or Wise Men) met him there to settle what 
part of England the Danes should keep to themselves. 

Alfred was now to rule over all Wessex, London, and the 
south of Mercia. The river Lea,^ on the east of London, was 
to be the boundary between Guthrum's kingdom and the 
English. Another boundary was a line going from the 
Lea north-west towards Chester by the old Koman way 
called Watling Street^ 

King- Alfred Founds a Great King-dom.— Now that 
the Danes no lonsrer dared to molest the Engflish of 
Wessex, King Alfred began to improve his kingdom. 



KING ALFRED CONQUERS THE DANES. 107 

with sucli wisdom and energy that he may well be called 
one of the founders of the nation's greatness. 

He now built a much stronger fleet. We are told 
that his ships were twice the size of those of the Danes, 
and sailed more swiftly and steadily. One writer boasts 
that they had sixty oars or more ; from which you can 
see that the war-ships at that time were still somewhat 
like the galleys in which Cassar's soldiers had rowed over 
from Gaul more than nine hundred years earlier. 

Having secured peace, as the principal condition for 
the happiness of a free people, Alfred resolved to have 
good government everywhere. There had been a code 
of laws in Wessex drawn up by Ina^ and another by Offa^^ 
of Mercia ; but Alfred made a new code, choosing what 
was best from those two and adding new laws of his 
own. But what was more important, King Alfred saw 
that the law was kept and respected ; and, for that pur- 
pose, he chose the best men he could find to assist him 
in the work of government and in administering justice. 

Another proof of the wisdom of this great king was 
his strong desire that every youth "abide at his book^^ 
till he can well understand English writing." That this 
desire was earnest, we know from his efforts to secure 
for his people the great boon of education, so that all 
might read and think for themselves. He not only 
founded several schools (one of which he constantly 
visited to see how the work of teaching progressed), but 
he wrote many books for his people in their own lan- 
guage. King Alfred may thus be called the great 
founder of our English literature, which is thus older 
than that of the French or Germans. 

This great king was untiring in his efforts to acquire 
knowledge and convey it to his people. He sent an 



io8 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



intelligent wliale-fislier to visit the north of Russia, and 
an English sailor to the Baltic, so that he might know 
and write about the geography of northern Europe. 
He sent an embassy ^'^ to Jerusalem, and received from the 
Patriarch ^^ several presents of great value ; and another 
mission even to Hindustan, whence some splendid jewels 
and other costly things were brought him. He invited 
many scholars from France and other countries to help 
him in writing books and teaching his people. 

But since we have called him the founder of our written 
language, perhaps you will ask what books he wrote. One 
was a history and geography of the world ; another was a 
history of England ; ^^ a third was a book on philosophy, 
which was such a favourite with King Alfred that we are 
told he always carried it about with him. The following 
lesson is taken from that book, and may serve as a speci- 
men of the English written by Alfred the Great."^^ Some 
of the old-fashioned words have been changed. 



1. Magical, i.e., supernatural; derived from the 

Magi, the wise men of Persia. 

2. Lodbrog, see page 91. 

3. Selwood Forest is in Wilts. 

4. Ethandune, supposed to be Edington in 

Devon. 
6. Wedmore, in Somerset. 

6. The Witan were the ' wise men whom all 

the early English kings consulted. They 
always had great power, and sometimes 
took the crown from their king to put 
another in his place. The Witena-gemote, 
or Wise Mens Meeting, as their council or 
assembly was called, was therefore a sort 
of Parliament. At first all freemen might 
attend, but afterwards the Witan were 
mainly the nobles, and, by and by, the 
bishops and abbots. 

7. Lea, one of the northern tributaries of the 

Thames : enters the Thames at Blackwall ; 
divides Middlesex from Essex. 

8. Watling Street, see map, page 22. Robert 

of Gloucester thus gives the chief Roman 
roads— 

'Fram the South into the North takith 

Enn-inge-strete. 
' Fram the East into the West goeth 
Ikeneld-strete. 



' Fram Dover into Chestre goeth Wat- 

lyng-strete. 
'Fram the South-west to North-est into 

Englondes ende. 
' Fosse, men callith thilke wey that by 
mony town doth wend." 
9. Ina of Wessex, see page 87. 
111. Offa of Mercia, see page 85. 

11. Book. The word book is derived from the 

Saxon boc, Danish bog, the beech-tree; the 
Sa.\ons first wrote on beecheu boards. 
Cf. paper flora pajyyncs, an Egyptian reed. 

12. Embassy, a mission from one court to an- 

other. 

13. Patriarch. One of the five great bishops of 

the early Christian Church was the Patri- 
,arch of Jerus,alem. 

14. Alfred's History and Geography of the World 

was mostly a translation of the ' History 
of the World on Christian Principles,' by 
Orosius. His History of England wa3 
translated from Bede's ' History of the 
Anglo-Saxon Church. His f.avourite book 
of philosophy he translated from ' Consola- 
tions of Philosophy,' by Boethius. 

15. The vigour of Alfred's style and the freshness 

of his thoughts prove him to have been the 
greatest of Saxon writers. 



THE STORY OF ORPHEUS. 



109 




KINO ALFRED WRITING THK STORY OF ORPHEUS. 



THE STORY OF ORPHEUS.^ 

BY KING ALFRED. 

ONCE there was a harper in the country hight^ Thrace,^ 
which was in Greece. His name was Orpheus. 
He had a very excellent wife who was called Eurydice. 
Then began men to say of this harper that he could 
harp so that the wood moved and that the stones stirred 
themselves at the sound, and wild beasts would run 



no EARLY ENGLAND, 

tliereto and stand as if tliey were tame ; so still that, 
though men or hounds pursued them, they shunned 
them not. 

Then men said that the harper's wife died, and her 
soul was led to Hades "^ (the unseen world). Then the 
harper became so sorrowful that he stayed in the woods 
and the mountains, both day and night, weeping and 
harping. Then it seemed to the harper that he desired 
nothing in this world, and he thought he would seek the 
gods of Hades, and begin to soften them with his harp, 
and pray that they would give him back his wife. 

When he came thither, there was first the dog of 
Hades ^ with three heads, who began to waof his tail and 
play with him for his harping; and then a very dreadful 
gate-keeper, called Caron ; *" and then the grim goddesses, 
called the Fates,'^ who punish every man according to his 
deserts. Then Orpheus went farther, and all the people 
of Hades went towards him, and led him to their king, 
and began all to speak with him, and to pray that whicli 
he prayed. And all the punishments of the people of 
Hades were stayed while Orpheus harped before the 
king ; and, when he long and long had harped, then 
spoke the king to the people, " Let us give the man his 
wife, for he has eai'ned her by harping." He then told 
Orpheus to beware of looking back when leaving Hades, 
and said that if he looked backwards he should lose 
his wife. 

Well, away! who can restrain love ? Orpheus led his 
wife with him till he came to the boundary of light and 
darkness, and then his wife went after him. When he 
came forth into the light, he looked backwards towards 
his wife. Then was she at once lost to him for ever. 

This story teaches every man who wishes to fly the 



STORIES ABOUT ALFRED THE GREAT. 



Ill 



darkness and to come to the liglit of the true good that 
he look not to his old vices to practise them again. 



1. The book begins with these words :—" Alfred, 

King, was translator of this book, and 
turned it from book Latin into English, as 
it now is done. ' 

2. Hight, called or named. 

3. Thrace, the modern Roumelia in Turkey. 

4. Hades, literally means 'the unseen.' The 

name was given by the Greeks to the god 
of the unseen world. It subsequently came 
to be used for the place of the dead. 



5. Dog of Hades, called Cerberus. It allowed 

the ' shades ' of the dead to enter Hades, 
but never let them out again. 

6. Caron, or Charon, usuiiUy described as the 

boatman who ' ferried ' the dead over the 
river Styx to Hades. 

7. The Fates, the old Greeks said, were tliree 

sisters, one of whom spim the thread of 
each man's life, the second drew it out, 
and the third cut it. 



STORIES ABOUT ALFRED THE GREAT. 

THIS good king was so much admired, that many 
stories were told long after his death to show how 
unselfish he was, how industrious (more than almost any 
man we know), and how brave in resisting the enemies 
of his country and securing his people's freedom and 
peace. 

One day in the Isle^ of Athelney, when all Kiug 
Alfred's people were gone out to fish in the marshes 
except himself and his wife and one servant, there came 
a pilgrim " to beg for something to eat. And when the 
servant said there was only one loaf of bread in the 
house and a little wine, the king said, " Give the poor 
pilgrim half of the loaf and half of the wine." The 
pilgrim thanked the king very humbly, and prayed God 
to bless him and his house. But afterwards the ser- 
vant found the loaf whole and the wine bottle just as it 
had been before he gave some to the pilgrim ; and when 
he told this strange thing to the king, they began also to 
wonder how the pilgrim could have come to the island 
without a boat. 

When night had come and all were gone to bed, the 



112 EARLY ENGLATs'D. 

king lay awake, and presently a wonderful light filled 
all the place, and he saw a venerable old man like a 
priest holding a most beautiful book of the Gospels. 

The old man blessed the king and said, " I am 
called Cuthbert, the soldier of Christ, and it was to me 
that thou showedst such charity this morning. There- 
fore be strong and of good courage and of a joyful 
heart, for thou shalt soon fight against thine enemies, 
and doubt not that thou shalt overcome them. God 
hath given thee this land and the kingdom of thy 
fathers, to thee and to thy sons, and to thy sons' sons, 
and to thy seed for ever." 

Seven days after this wonderful vision, a large host 
of the English people gathered round King Alfred near 
Selwood, and they fought again under the ' Dragon ' of 
Wessex at Ethandune. 

As a proof of the courage of Alfred, men said that, 
when he stayed with his queen and their children in 
Athelney, he one day disguised himself as a poor stroll- 
ing harper, and went among the Danes. He pretended 
to amuse them by his music and songs, but all the time 
learning much about them and about Guthrum's plans. 
Thus when the moment for action came, he was the 
better able to surprise and utterly defeat them. 

All who know ami^hing about Alfred the Great must 
wonder how he found time for so much work. He must 
really have toiled from year's end to year's end, morn- 
ing, noon, and night. 

Bishop Asser tells us that the king measured the 
time by candles, so as not to neglect ariy of his duties. 
He had wax candles made all of one size, so that six of 
them, burning one after another, would just last from 
sunrise to sunrise. Thus, instead of saying " two hours' 



KING ALFRED AND THE NEW DANES. 



"3 



time," as we do, King Alfred would say, " half a candle's 
time ; " and one hour with him over his books was " a 
(|uarter of a candle." 

But English houses a thousand years ago were very 
queerly built, and the word " comfortable " was not yet 
known ; so that even the king's palace had so many 
chinks and holes in the walls that Alfred found that his 
candles burnt too fast in windy weather. He therefore 
bethought him of putting his time-candle in a box or 
case made of four pieces of thin horn. The horn showed 
the light, while it saved the candle from flaring and 
wasting. Thus, according to the good Bishop, our royal 
o-enius was the inventor of horn-lanterns ! ^ 



1. Isle, derived from the Latin insula. Tlie 
word island comes from the Saxon ey- 
hitul, that is, 'eye of land.' 

'2. Pilgrim (from the Latin ;)f)-f3nHiis), literally, 
one who wanders through thsjields. 



3. Hom-lantems were made by the Greeks and 
the Romans, hut Alfred was probably the 
first to use them in England. 



KING ALFRED AND THE NEW DANES. 

THOUGH Alfred had secured freedom and peace for the 
English, he had frequently to send his navy against 
new hordes of plundering Danes. One year his fleet took 
four Danish ships; and, in the year 885, no less than 
sixteen were captured in one sea-fight. In that same 
year, he gained another victory over some Danes, who 
had sailed up the Medway^ and were trying to take 
the strong town of Rochester, Alfred bravely stormed 
the tower they had built, and quickly drove them in 
terror to their ships, in which they were glad to return 
to France. 

During the next two years, while the Northmen or 

(H. 2.) H 



114 EARLY ENGLAND. 

Normans were trying to take Paris," Alfred rebuilt 
London, and made it strong with walls and forts. 

At last, a very large Danish fleet sailed over to re-attack 
Alfred and the English. Two hundred and fifty ships, 
full of armed men and horses, came to the south of Kent, 
while another strong fleet of eighty vessels sailed up the 
Thames. The latter Avas commanded by a daring chief 
called Hastings. This leader was a man of such vigour 
and military skill, that, but for precautions taken by 
King Alfred and the generalship he now displayed, all 
England must speedily have become Danish. 

Near Rochester, Hastings built a very large strong- 
hold overlooking the mouth of the Medway. When Alfred 
had collected the English, he divided his army into two 
parts — one half to stay at home, while the rest were on 
service. So that, in any campaign,^ there was always a 
large reserve ready to assist those in the field. 

The Danes had never seen such well-drilled and well- 
officered soldiers, and soon confessed that the English were 
more than a match for them. Alfi'ed completely defeated 
both armies in Kent; afterwards the English had a third 
victory in Surrey, and then a fourth in Essex over those 
who had crossed the Thames, hoping to be joined by 
their kinsmen there. Hurrying next as far west as 
Devon, Alfred drove another Danish army from Exeter 
to their ships with great loss. Some time after, Hast- 
ings suffered another terrible defeat on the Severn. 

The last attempt of this daring chief was to sail up 
the river Lea, and build a strong camp about twenty 
miles north of London. The English king went to see 
the Danish camp ; and, as he looked at the enemy's 
ships covering the river, he devised a means of completely 
foiling Hastings. Bringing forward his men, he ordered 



KING ALFRED AND THE NEW DANES. ii: 




HAbTINUb A>D HIb DA^ES. 



ii6 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



them to dig three deep channels from tlie Lea to the 
Thames ; and very soon the Danes, tx) their woful dis- 
gust, saw all the ships on which they depended left 
aground and perfectly useless. In dismay, Hastings' 
army escaped from their strong camp by night. Soon 
after, the citizens of London took the grounded Danish 
ships ; and, after destroying some of them, brought the 
rest down the Lea to London with great joy and rejoic- 
ing. Thus King Alfred saved England, and the daring 
Dane sailed back to France without either gain or glory. 

Close of King- Alfred's Reig-n. — When Hastings left 
England, Alfred and his people were at rest, and the 
last four years of the reign were passed in peace. You 
can easily imagine with what delight the royal scholar 
went back to his beloved books. With the help of his 
Witan or Wise Men, he still did much to prepare the 
way for his people to become a free and thoughtful and 
industrious nation. His own noble words are — "/i^ is 
Just that the English should for ever rcviaioi as free as 
their oum thoughts" 

King Alfred, though he did so much work with such 
great energy, was frequently ill in health. He died in 
his fifty-third year, and was buried in the new Minster'^ 
which he had himself founded in Winchester, his capital. 
In recent years, strange to say, English hands have dis- 
turbed the I'esting-place of the Great Alfred, the best of 
English kings ; but such men as Alfred need no monu- 
ment. On how very few of all whose names are written 
in the history of mankind can we so justly bestow the 
triple crown of Virtue, Heroism, and Culture ! 



1. Medway, tlifi last of the southern tributaries 
of the Thames, which it enters at Sheer- 



2. Paris, the capital of France, standing on the 
river Seine. 



3. Campaign, a year's war : literally, the time 
during which an army fights in the open 
plain (Latin, campus), 

i. Minster, contraction of monasterium, tiia 
cliurch belonging to a monastery. 



THE SUCCESSORS OF ALFRED. 



117 




ATHELSTAN. 



THE SUCCESSORS OF ALFRED. 

EDWARD THE ELDER AND ATHELSTAX. 

HE successors of Alfred the 
Great for about a hundred 
years were nearly all brave 
and wise rulers. Alfred's 
son Edward, his grandson 
Athelstan, and his great- 
grandson Edgar the Peace- 
ful, all brought great honour 
to the English name. 

Edward the Elder, 901- 
925.— Edward the Elder had 
been with his father in Athel- 
ney, and fought by his side 
in many battles against the Danes. When he came to 
the throne of Wessex, he was greatly assisted by his 
heroic sister, the Lady of Mercia, who commenced the 
great work of taking back from the Danes the '' Five 
Boroughs " — Dcrhy} Lincoln^ Leicester^ Stamford,^ and 
Nottingham.^ 

Ethelfled, this brave daughter of the great king, at 
her death left Mercia to King Edward, who, soon after, 
made himself master of East Anglia and of Essex. 
Thus at his death, in the year 925, Alfred's son Avas 
" King of the English " as far north as the Humber ; 
he was called " Lord of all Britain," because the 
princes of Wales, Northumbria, and Scotland owned 
him as their " Over-lord." 

In his reign, a number of wild Danes or Northmen 
settled in France, on the banks of the Seine. Their 



ii8 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



leader was a tall warrior, Rolf or Hollo, nicknamed the 
' Ganger.' The horses of Norway (like the ponies of 
Shetland) were not high enough for Rollo's long legs, 
and so he liad to ' gang ' or walk, whilst others rode. 

The king of the Franks had been so much troubled 
witli the Northmen, that he was glad to cede one of his 
northern provinces to them, and even to give Rolf his 
daughter in marriage. The territory thus obtained by 




ATHELSTAN ON THE FIELD OF BHUXANBURGH. 

the Normans was called Normandy ; and Rolfs town, 
Bouen,^ is still the capital of that large province. Rolf 
and his Normans ought to be mentioned here, because, 
one hundred and fifty years afterwards, their descendants 
invaded and conquered England. 

Athelstan, called 'Emperor,' 925-941.— After Ed- 
ward's death, Athelstan^ Alfred's favourite grandson, 



THE SUCCESSORS OF ALFRED. 



119 



became kin^. When tlie little prince was a liandsonie 
fair-haired boy, Alfred one day clad him in a cloak of 
purple, and buckled round his waist a jewelled belt with 
a sword in a golden sheath. Afterwards, we are told, he 
was sent to his aunt Ethelfled, the brave Lady of Mercia. 

When Athelstan was king, he increased more and 
more the power of the English. He not only became 
master of Northumbria, but he subdued Wales and also 
the wild tribes of Devon and Cornwall. His most famous 
victory was on the bloody field of Brunaixburcjh^ where 
he defeated a large army of Danes, Scots, Welsh, and 
Irish. An old ballad tells how five Danish kings, seven 
earls, and the son of the king of Scots, were there slain 
by the English ; and never afterwards was Athelstan 
obliged to draw the sword. 

So great had Alfred's kingdom now become that 
Athelstan was much respected in foreign countries, and 
his sisters Avere married to the greatest princes in Europe. 



1. Derby, stands on the river Dem-ent, a tribu- 

tary of tlie Trent. 

2. Lincoln, a cathedral city on the 'With.ani. 

:;. Leicester, on the river Soar, an affluent of 

tlif Trent. 
4. Stamford, on the Welland, on the boundary 

between Lincoln and Northampton. 



5. Nottingham, on the Trent. The 'Five 
Boroughs ' fonned a Danish league for 
mutnal protection. 

C. Bouen, on the Seine, capital of Normandy. 

7. Athelstan, i.e., the noble or precious stone. 

S. The battle was probably fought south of the 
Humber, in Lincolnshire. 




Z20 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



THE SUCCESSORS OF ALFREB-Continued. 



EDMUND, EDRED, EDWY, AND EDGAR. 




THELSTAN was succeeded 
by his two younger brothers 
Edmund and Edred; after 
whom his two grandsons, 
Edwij and Edgar, filled the 
throne. 

Edmund, 941-946.— 
Athelstan's brother Edviund, 
like all his race, had much 
fighting to test his manhood. 
He won back the " Five 
Boroughs " from the Danes ; 
EHGAR. and had also to fight for the 

mastership of Northumbria. 

His reign, however, came to a very sudden end ; for 
one night, when feasting in a hall at Puckle-chui*ch,i his 
eye fell upon a man among the company whom, at the 
beginning of his reign, he had banished for robber3\ 
When the man refused to leave, the king, in his passion, 
caught him by the hair and threw him to the ground. 
Next moment he himself fell, stabbed to the heart by the 
outlaw's dagger. 

Edred, 946-955 —Edrcd, the next brother of Athel- 
stan, was crowned in the year 946. Though weak in 
body, he had much of the strong and active will of his 
family. He went to Northumbria to punish the rebel 
Danes, and regained that province. 

The most important man at this time was not a king 



THE SUCCESSORS OF ALFRED. 121 

or warrior, but a priest called Dunstan. Born and 
taaght at Glastonbury^ where he afterwards was made 
abbot, he in due time rose to be Archbishop of Canter- 
bury and the chief statesman of that age. 

When a boy he was extremely quick at his lessons, 
and soon became proficient in all the learning of the 
time. He also gave himself to the study of music, 
drawing, and other accomplishments; and, at last, showed 
a knowledge and skill so much beyond what was then 
common that many said the little abbot must be a 
sorcerer.^ Dunstan had great power in England, not 
only under Edmund and Edred but also under the 
three followingr kinsfs. 

Edwy, 9bd-959.—Edivy, the son of Edmund, had 
not a happy reign, partly from quarrels between the 
English of the south and the Danes of the north, but 
mainly from the keen disputes between the regular 
monks and the ordinary clergy. 

Abbot Dunstan said that the clergy ought not to 
marry ; and King Edwy, who hated the monks, took 
the part of the clergymen against Dunstan. Then, 
when the king married his cousin Elgiva, both Dunstan 
and Archbishop Odo took great offence ; and at last the 
young king banished Dunstan from England. 

Edgar, 959-975.— Edwy was succeeded by his brother 
Edgar, a much greater king. He is called the ' Peace- 
ful,' because there was no fighting in his reign, not even 
with the Danes. 

One year, it is true, he went to Wales to compel the 
chief or prince to yield him the tribute which had been 
paid since the reign of Athelstan. According to one 
account, King Edgar ordered the Welsh prince to bring 
three hundred wolves' ^ heads every year^ instead of 



122 EARLY ENGLAND. 

paying money ; and that, in the fourth year, the prince 
told Edgar there were no more to kill. 

Edgar, being a worthy great-grandson of King 
Alfred, had a large fleet to guard the English coasts, 
and often sailed with it himself. He also visited the 
chief towns in his kingdom to see that the laws were ob- 
served and that justice was done. On these journeys, he 
was usually accompanied by his chief minister,^ Dunstan, 
whom he had already made Archbishop of Canterbury. 

So great in power did Edgar become that he was 




EDG \.l UN IHh I Vi 



called " King of the English and all the nations round 
about," and also " Ruler of the whole Isle of Albion.'" 

It is said that when he visited Chester,'' eight kings 
came to do him homage ; and, as if they were his ser- 
vants, they rowed him in his royal barge on the river 
Dee. One of the eight kings was Kenneth' of Scotland. 
Now the king of England was but a small man, though 
nimble and active. One night, at a feast, Kenneth said, 
" How is it that all of us, so many kings as we are, 



THE SUCCESSORS OF ALFRED. 123 

should serve this oue man who is smaller than any of 
us?" 

When this came to Edgar's ears, he said nothing; 
but soon afterwards he asked King Kenneth to come 
apart to a certain wood. Then, taking out two swords, 
he said to Kenneth, " Now choose one of these swords, 
and let us see at once which is the better man : jfight me 
and beat me if you can." But the king of the Scots 
would not draw his sword ao^ainst his lord the kinof of 
all Britain ; and said that he liad only spoken in jest, 
because his heart was merry with feasting. So King 
Edgar and King Kenneth remained friends. 

Though Edgar was so famous in his time, he was 
only thirty-two years of age when he died. He was 
interred at Glastonbury, where also the abbot Dunstan 
had buried King Edmund, his father. 



1. Puckle-church, iu Gloucestershire, about six 4. Wolves, see note 8, page 1 



mili^s east of Bristol. 

2. Glastonbury, in Somerset, five miles south 

of Wells. 

3. Sorcerer, literally one who draws lots; a 

magician. 



Minister, literally one who is less, therefore 
a serv.ant. Here it means the adviser of 
the king. 
C. Chester, a cathedral city on the river Dee, 
7. Kenneth reigned from 973 to 987. 




SAXON SOLDIERS. 



124 



EARLY ENGLAND. 




THE DEATH OF EDWARD THE MARTYR. 



V. THE DANISH CONQUEST. 

THE OVERTHROW OF THE SAXONS. 

HE Two Sons of Edgar.- 

By his first wife tlie great 

Edgar had a son called Ed- 

icard, and by his second wife 

a son called Ethelrcd. Both 

||f sons came to wear the crown, 

but neither of them proved 

liimself worthy of being 

counted in the royal line 

of Alfred, Athelstan, and 

Edgar. 

Edward was king for only 
EDWARD THE MARTYR. four years ; and his death 

was so sad and cruel, that he was ever afterwards called 
Edward the Martyr. 




THE OVERTHROW OF THE SAXONS. 



125 



His stepmother, Elfrida, was very anxious that her 
son Etheh-ed should be king. She was staying iji Corfe 
Castle,^ near the south coast of Dorset. One day, when 
Edward was hunting in a wood near the castle, he rode 
to the gate and asked to see his brother Ethelred. 

The wicked Elfrida, according to the story, gave a 
secret order to one of her servants. As the young king 
sat in the saddle and was about to drink a cup of wine 
which she brought him, he was stabbed in the back with 
a dagger. He at once galloped away, but soon sank 
from loss of blood ; his foot caught in the stirrup, and 
he was dragged along the ground till he died. His dis- 
figured body Avas buried in a town close by. 

Thus it was that Ethdred became king. His whole 
reign was a time of wretchedness 
and strife, thirty-seven years of 
crime and blunder. Ethelred, 
the brother of Alfred, had been 
brave and noble ; but this Ethel- 
red, called the Unready, was not 
only false and cruel like his 
mother, but he was cowardly 
and weak-minded. 

The Danes soon began to- re- 
attack the English, and within 
a tew months they sacked the 

three cities of Southampton,^ Chester, and London. To 
get rid of these invaders, Ethelred paid them ten thou- 
sand pounds of silver ; and, in order to raise the money, 
he forced his people to pay a heavy tax called Dancgeld.^ 

The Danish pirates came again and again ; till at last 
the foolish king gave orders that, on a particular night,* 
all the Danes throughout England were to be murdered. 
Thus, in the year I002, on the 13th of November, 




126 EARLY ENGLAND. 

thousands of people, many of them peaceable citizens, 
were suddenly put to death. Amongst those who were 
so ruthlessly murdered was the sister of Sweyn, the king 
of Denmark. 

Sweyn the Pork-Beard.— King Sweyn took a terrible 
oath that he would be revenged upon the murderers 
of his sister. With the largest invading fleet that had 
yet been seen, he landed on the coast of Devon. For four 
years the Danes plundered and slaughtered the English, 
and burnt every town and homestead ^ they came to. 

Even after Sweyn withdrew, on receiving a heavy 
bribe, fresh bands of his vengeful countrymen came. 
Some went to Canterbury ; and, among a large number 
of other captives, they carried off the old archbishop. 

The old man was too poor to give them the gold they 
wanted for his ransom ; and, when he refused to raise the 
money from his people, some of the drunken Danes pelted 
him with stones and ox-bones till he fell down. One 
pirate, more merciful than the rest, struck him on the 
head with a battle-axe. To this day the oldest parisli 
church of Greenwich '' is named St. Alphege, after this old 
archbishop whom the Danes murdered. 

Some years after Sweyn landed again, and was soon 
master of all the country which had been held by the 
Danes in the time of Alfred the Great. He crossed 
Mercia, burning and slaughtering everywhere. The Eng- 
lish people had now no leader as they had in former days, 
and the only determined stand made against Sweyn was 
by the men of London. 

Tlius it was that a Dane came to be crowned king of 
England, even London at last receiving him. The weak 
Ethelred fled to Normandy, because his second wife was 
the Duke's sister. Three weeks after his coronation, 
Sweyn was dead. 



THE DANISH KINGS OF ENGLAND. 



127 



Edmund Ironside, 1017. — Etlielred's eldest son, Ed- 
7nund, was a much braver man than his father. He 
fought six battles with Cnut or Canute, the son of the 
fierce Sweyn. Finall}', they agreed to divide England 
between them — Edmund's share being all the country- 
south of the Thames, with London and East Anglia. 
The English gave Edmund the name 'Ironside,'' on 
account of his great strength and courage. He reigned 
only seven months ; and his people said that, if he had 
lived longer, lie would have regained the kingdom of his 
grandfather, Edgar. 



1. Corfe Castle, in the Isle of Purbeck in the 

south-east of Dorset. 

2. Southampton, on the coast of Hampsliire, 

now one of the most important of tlic 

Channel ports. 
;;. Danegeld, i.e., • Dane-money ' or 'Dane-^'olil.' 
i. The Festival of St. Brice, a Danish saint. 



5. Homestead, the place of a home or house. 

Cf. instead, i.e., in the place of. 
G. Greenwich, in Kent, on the south banlv of the 

Tlianies. 
7. Edmund Ironside met Cnut at Olney, an 

island in tlie Severn. Some say they 

fouglit a duel. 



THE DANISH KINGS OF ENGLAND. 

NUT, 1017-1035.— Cnut (or 
Canute) the Dane, being 
now king of the English, 
ruled them firmly but not 
unjustly. He was also king 
of Denmark, Norway, and 
part of Sweden, and governed 
his territories so wisely that 
he is rightly called Cnut 
the Great. 

One cruel action at the 

beginning of his reign was 

^^^^- to send the two infant boys 

of i-:dmund Ironside to Sweden to be murdered there. 

They, however, escaped to Hungary ; and one of them, 




128 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



Edward, who married the German emperor's daughter 
was father of Edgar Athding ' and Margaret ^-both im- 
portant names in our early history. 




CNUT AT THE SEA-SHORE. 



Cnut loved England more than Denmark or Norway, 
and in order to govern it better he divided it into four 



THE DANISH KINGS OF ENGLAND. 129 

great provinces or earldoms — Northumbria, Mercia, East 
Anglia, and Wessex. The most famous of his earls was 
Godwin,^ who was made earl of the West Saxons in 1020. 
He rose to be the greatest man in England, and became 
the father of an English king. 

Stories of Cnut.— Once, so the story runs, Cnut was 
sailing with his queen to the church of Ely. He listened 
to the chanting of the monks as they sang in the Abbey, 
and was so pleased, it is said, that he made a poem on 
it, which ran thus — 

"Merry sung the monks within Ely 
When Cnut the king rowed thereby, 
Row, my knights, row near the land, 
And hear we these monks' song." 

Who has not heard the story of King Cnut and the 
courtiers ? One day he was walking on the shore with 
some of them ; and when they spoke about his power and 
greatness, he told one to place a chair on the beach 
near the advancing waves. Then ordering the sea not 
to dare to approach, since he was its lord and master, 
Cnut sat on the chair till the water dashed all round 
him. 

Thus he showed his companions the folly of their 
words of flattery : " Ye see how powerless my word is ; 
a king, like any other man, is but weak before nature 
and before God. Therefore honour God only, since it is 
He alone that all things obey." 

After this, Cnut never wore his crown, but placed it 
in the cathedral of Winchester over an image of our 
Lord. 

The Two Sons of Cnut.— Two sons of Cnut succeeded 

him as kings of England. His eldest son, Siveyn, 
(H. 2.) 1 



EARLY ENGLAND. 




became king of Norway, By his father's will Hardi- 
ciiut was to be king of England, while the second 

son Harold was to get Den- 
mark. But Harold seized 
England. The Witan decreed 
that he should govern London 
and the country north of the 
Thames, while Wessex was re- 
\'^'^^%M_J^^^^^^^B:// served for Hardicnut. The latter 

lingered in Denmark, leaving 
his English territory to be ruled 
by Earl Godwin. 

Harold was very fond of 

HAROLD. 1 , • -, (. 1 . T . 

hunting, and irom his speed m 
running he got the name of " Hare-foot." After a short 
reign of four years, he died at Oxford in 1 040. 

The last of the Danish kings was Hardicnut; and 
like his brother, Harold Hare-foot, he was not worthy to 

wear the crown of Cnut. He 
caused his brother's body to be 
dug up and beheaded, and then 
ordered the headless corpse to 
be thrown into a marsh. To this 
day there is a church in Lon- 
don, near Temple Bar, called St. 
Clement Danes ; and its name 
may help you to remember that 
it was in the churchyard there 
that Harold's body was buried 
by some of his Danish friends. 
Hardicnuts end was very ignoble and unkingly. 
There was a Danish thane called Clapa, whose daughter 
was going to be married. At the marriage feast the 




HARDICNUT. 



AN ENGLISH KING AGAIN ON THE THRONE. 



»3i 



king ate and drank too much ; and at last, as he rose to 
pledge the bride, suddenly fell speechless with the wine- 
cup in his hand. 

He had been king but two years. The place where he 
died is still called Claphani, that is, the house of Clapa. 



1. Edgax Athellng, that is, Edgar ' the Prince,' 
as he was fondly called by the Saxons, who 
regarded him as the rightful heir to the 
English throne. 

'J. Margaret, married Malcolm Canmore King 
of Scotland. Her daughter Maud married 
nenry I of England. Thus Henry II. was 
her great-grandson 

K. Godwin was at first a cowherd, living witli 
hie old father M'ulfnoth in a small hut in a 



forest. A Danish noble, having lost his 
way, begged Godwin's aid, which was 
readily given ; and the Dane in return 
obtained for Godwin a post In Cnut's 
army. During a war in Sweden, Godwin, 
at the head of the Saxon troops, routed the 
enemy. After this, his advance was rapid. 
He married Cnut's sister Githa, and re- 
ceived the earldoms of Kent and Wessex. 
His son Harold eventuallv became king. 



VI. THE ENGLISH RESTORATION. 

AN ENGLISH KING AGAIN ON THE 
THRONE. 

(^P~^j^^^FTEK having four Danish 
kings, the English people 
^ were glad to be ruled once 
more by a prince of the 
house of Alfred. You may 
remember how Ethelred the 
Unready married the sister 
of the Duke of Normandy, 
and how he went with her 
there to escape the Danes. 

Their son Edward, the 
new king, was unhappily 
much more of a Frenchman 
than an Englishman. Not only was his mother a French- 
woman ; but, having since his boyhood lived in Nor- 
mandy, he talked nothing but French. Thus he had 




KDWAKO THE CONKE.SSOH. 



132 EARLY ENGLAND. 

come to like tlie French people better than the English, 
and therefore brought many of them to England. He 
was very friendly with his cousin, Duke William of 
Normandy ; and that subsequently led to one of the 
greatest events in the whole history of England. 

Edward was more like a gentle priest than a power- 
ful king ; and, after his death, he was called ' the Con- 
fessor.' Godwin, the great Englishman whom King Cnut 
had made an earl, had much power over Edward, and 
his daughter Edith became queen. But the French 
" favourites of the king, and the other 
earls, became jealous of Godvyin, and 
at last forced him to leave England. 

A haughty French count had been 
on a visit to Edward ; and, when pass- 
ing through Dover ^ on his way back 
to Normandy, his followers were so in- 
solent that the citizens drove them out 

ARMS OF EDWARD THE 

CONFESSOR. of the town. When the count told the 

king, putting all the blame on the men of Dover, Edward 
ordered Godwin to punish the people, but the earl stoutly 
refused. He even gathered an army to force the king 
to expel his French favourites ; but when the other earls 
joined Edward and his Frenchmen, Godwin was compelled 
to sail over to Flanders and leave his large estates in 
England. 

When the great earl was away, the kingdom was 
entirely ruled by Frenchmen. This was the time, too, 
when Edward's cousin, the famous Duke William of 
Normandy, came over to see him. The weak king is said 
to have promised William that he should succeed to the 
English crown. The Duke was very ambitious ^ and daring ; 
and, seeing so many Normans at his cousin's court, he 




AN ENGLISH KING AGAIN ON THE THRONE. 133 

thouglit that it would be easy to become king of Eng- 
land. 

Earl Godwin and his Son.— In the following year, 
Godwin came back to England and checked the in- 
fluence of the French courtiers. The earl and his son 
Harold, having again become friends with the king, got 
back their estates and honours, and were now the real 
rulers of the country. In the year 1053, when dining 
with King Edward at Winchester, Earl Godwin died sud- 
denly. A few days afterwards he was buried in the cathe- 
dral there, near the royal tombs of Alfred and Cnut. 

Harold, the earl of Wessex, was now all-powerful in 
the country. The king occasionally went out hunting, 
but he spent nearly all his time in prayer, reading pious 
books, collecting relics,^ and building churches. No 
doubt he was glad to have a great ruler like Harold to 
manao'e his kins^dom for him. 

Harold won much honour from his victories over the 
Welsh, and their king and princes were glad to pay tribute 
to him. But, during this time, England itself was at 
peace and became more wealthy and prosperous. 

A curious adventure is said to have happened to the 
great earl. When he was cruising in the English 
Channel, a storm arose and his boat was wrecked on 
the French coast. Count Guy,* the lord of the country, 
put him in prison and demanded a heavy ransom. 

William, Duke of Normandy, having heard of this, soon 
made Count Guy give up his prisoner. He then took 
the English earl to his court, and treated him with the 
greatest honour and kindness. It is said that Harold 
assisted Duke William in fighting against the Bretons ; 
and that once, when a number of Normans were being 
swept away in a rapid river, the strong-armed English 



134 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



earl pulled them out two at a time ! Hai-old, it is also 
said, promised to marry tlie duke's daughter, and took 
an oath to support William's claim to the English throne 
on the death of Edward. 

In the year 1066 the Confessor died, and was buried 
in his own newly-built church, now the famous Abbey 
of Westminster. 



1. Dover was under Godwins jurisdiction as 

Earl of Kent. 

2. Ambitious, literally, going about to canvass 

for office : the word came to be applied to 
one desirous of power. 



3. Relics, the bones or other remains of saints. 

Even clothing and other articles worn or 
used by saints were considered sacred. 

4. Guy was Coinit of Ponthieu and a vassal of 

the Diiko of Normandy. 



THE LAST OF THE OLD ENGLISH KINGS. 

AKOLD, the son of Godwin, 
jj^ had already for twelve 
*f5^-ii' years ruled England well ; 
and it was no wonder he was 
chosen king on the death of 
Edward the Confessor. His 
father being an Englishman, 
and his mother the daughter 
of a Danish earl. King 
Harold was a type of the 
union of the English and the 
Dane — a proof that both 
HAROLD. peoples were now finally 

blended into one strong race and nation. This united 
people chose Harold to be their king, not because he 
had royal blood in his veins, but because he was the 
most worthy to wield the sceptre^ and wear the crown. 

Great trouble, however, was brewing for the English 
people and their new king. Harold had two strong and 
terrible enemies, who were both preparing to attack him. 




THE LAST OF THE OLD ENGLISH KINGS. 135 

One was his own brother, Earl Tostig, who had been 
expelled from his earldom of Northumbria for mis- 
government. 

The other was the ambitious Duke William of Nor- 
mandy, who had lately pretended such friendship for 
Harold. William and his knights were famous war- 
riors, but Harold and the English were more than a 
match for them in bravery ; and had there been nothing 
else, there is little doubt that the Frenchmen, for all 
their fine armour, would soon have been glad to get 
back to Normandy. 

Duke William was very cunning, and led nearly every- 
body to believe that Harold liad no right to be king of 
England. Then he made great preparations to assert 
his claim ; while King Harold, in the meantime, posted 
troops in different parts along the south coast. Months 
were spent in this way, but William was not yet ready ; 
and, at last, Harold sent his great army back again to 
their farms and towns. 

Then came the news to King Harold that an army 
from Denmark and Norway had landed in the north, and 
was laying waste the country as far as the city of York. 
The English forces were again brought together, and 
Harold led them from London to York as fast as they 
could march ; and though the Northmen under Earl 
Tostig and the king of Norway fought fiercely, they were 
completely beaten and both their leaders slain. 

Such was Harold's victory at Stamford Bridge!^ It 
was a famous fight, and in one of the old ballads the 
story is told as follows : — 

The Battle at the Bridge. — Once there came across 
the sea, with a great army, Hardrada^ the tall king of 
Norway, and Earl Tostig the brother of King Harold of 



136 EARLY ENGLAND. 

England. They sailed up the river Ouse * towards the 
city of York,^ and afterwards went to take the castle at 
Stamford Bridge. 

At night, Hardrada and his army slept in their ships 
on the river ; and, in the morning, they went on shore to 
march to the city of York. As they came near they 
saw a great dust rising, and soon after they beheld the 
flash of arms and helmets and shields, shining in the 
sun ; and were aware that Harold, king of the English, 
was already come against them. Earl Tostig thought 
the Northmen should go to their ships and fight from 
thence ; but Hardrada said, " No, let us stay here and 
send to the ships for the rest of our men to come to 
our help — we can fight as manfully as those English." 

So Hardrada set up his standard, the ' Land- Waster," 
and placed his men in a circle with their shields firmly 
set together. But as he rode round his army his black 
horse stumbled, and King Hardrada fell to the ground. 

Now Harold, the English king, saw him fall ; and 
when some Danes who were with liim told him that it 
was Hardrada himself who had fallen, Harold replied, 
" He is indeed a tall man and handsome, but his fall 
will bring him ill-luck." 

Then rode twenty soldiers on horseback from King 
Harold's army, clad all over in armour, with a message 
to Earl Tostig, saying that, rather than fight with his 
own brother. King Harold would give him one-third of 
liis kingdom if he would become again loyal. Then 
said Ear] Tostig, " If my brother had spoken so fairly 
a year ago, there are many men now dead who would 
be still alive ; but if T make peace with him, what will 
he give to my friend Hardrada, king of Norway, for all 
his trouble in comin^ so far ? " 



THE LAST OF THE OLD ENGLISH KINGS. 



137 



"King Harold will give him seven feet of English ground, 
or more perhaps, since he is taller than other men." 

" Nay," said Tostig, " tell Harold your king to buckle 
him for battle ; for we shall either die here as men, or 
win England for our own." 

When the English horsemen'' rode off. King Hardrada 
put on his armour, and prepared his men for the battle. 
And when the English came upon them, the Northmen 
kept them off with their spears and their wall of shields. 
At last the English seemed to give way, and some of 
the Northmen broke their shield-wall^ to follow. Then 
the English turned fiercely upon the Northmen, and 
soon made a large breach in their shield-wall, and slew 
many of them. And their king, Hardrada, left his flag, 
the ' Land- Waster,' to fight with the foremost of his 
men, and slew many Englishmen with his two-handed 
sword, till he was shot in the throat by an arrow. 

After him. Earl Tostig led the Northmen ; and then, 
when the rest of their men came from the ships to help 
them, the fight became fiercer than ever. The North- 
men refused to take quarter from the English, and 
were nearly all killed ; and at last, when Tostig was 
slain, they fled, and left the victory to King Harold 
the son of Godwin. 



1. Sceptre, originally a mere walking-staff 

jised by old men ; and as the father of the 
family was the ruler, the staff became the 
symbol of authority. 

2. Stamford Bridge, on the river Derwent, a 

tributary of the Ouse, a few miles east of 
York. There is another ' Stamford ' in 
Lincolnshire. 

3. Hardrada, or Hard-rede [stem in council), 

was famous as a warrior, not only in the 
north of Europe, but also at Constanti- 
nople, and in Africa and Sicily. He fought 
against the Saracens in Syria and Egypt, 
and was thus the pioneer of the Crusa- 
ders. 

4. Ouse, in Yorkshire, falls into the Humber. It 

must not be mistaken for the Great Ouse of 



the Fen district, the Oiise of Sussex, nor 
the Little Ouse of Norfolk. The word ' Ouse ' 
conies from the Old British uisge, which 
meiins 'water.' From the same root the 
names Exe. Axe, Esk, Usk, &c., are de- 
rived. 

5. York, the 'metropolis of the north, stands 

on the river Ouse, in the middle of a fertile 
plain. It is a very ancient city, and during 
the Roman period bore the name of ICbor- 
acum. 

6. At that time the English never fought on 

horseback, but many had horses to ride to 
and from the fight. 

7. Sbield-wall formed by the shields overlap- 

ping each other in front, somewhat like 
slates in a roof. Cr. the Roman 'tortoise- 



138 



EARLY ENGLAND. 




THE LANDING OF THE NORMANS. 



SENLAC AND ITS SEQUEL. 

KING HAROLD and his army were resting near York 
after the battle at Stamford Bridge, when a horse- 
man arrived in hot haste from the south to say that he 
had seen the Normans land on the coast of Sussex, and 
had therefore ridden day and night to tell the tidings. 
This was indeed ill news to the king, but he was not 
at all dismayed. He only wished he had been in Sus- 
sex to prevent Duke William ^ from landing. He in- 
stantly sent to collect more men from all England, so 
that even before he reached London he had a very large 
army. 

In a few days, his force was still more increased by 
the men from London, Kent, and other parts. The 



SENLAC AND ITS SEQUEL. 139 

• English everywhere hated the Normans, and even church- 
men wished to assist. The king's uncle, the abbot of 
Winchester, brother of Earl Godwin, came with twelve 
of his monks, wearing helmets and coats of mail. 

On reaching Senlac, about seven miles from Hastings, 
Harold posted his army on a little hill and fenced it all 
round with wood as a barricade"' or defence. The next 
morning, when the enemy was seen advancing to the 
attack. King Harold rode round his army, and told 
his men that if they kept their ranks and cut down 
their enemies as they came near the barricade, the day 
was won ; but if they left their position, that they ran 
deadly risk from the mail-clad horsemen. 

The Normans who came up from Hastings^ to attack 
Harold were in three large divisions — each having archers 
and horse, besides heavy-armed foot- soldiers. Duke 
William commanded the centre ; and with him rode his 
two brothers — one of them Bishop Odo, who, although 
a priest, had fought famously in many a fight. Both 
William and Odo bore lieavy iron maces instead of 
swords. 

Duke William's army attacked fiercely ; but neither 
the foot-soldiers nor the liorse could force the barricade, 
and many Frenchmen were cut down with sword or 
battle-axe. When the Norman duke saw that his 
soldiers were losing heart, he ordered some of them to 
pretend to run away. Thus the English were tempted 
to disobey Harold's order and left their strong position 
to chase the enemy ; and that was one of the chief 
reasons why they lost the battle. 

The Norman horsemen were now able to come closer ; 
and, by and by, when the duke told his archers to shoot 
upwards so that their deadly arrows would fall on tho 



140 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



English from above, some of Harold's men began to lose 
ground. The English king himself still stood by his 




EDITH SEARCHING KOR THE BODY OF HAROLD. 

royal standard, the ' Golden Dragon ' * of Wessex, till at 
last a deadly Norman arrow pierced his right eye. His 



SENLAC AND ITS SEQUEL. 141 

enemies saw him fall; and, with a loud shout of triumph, 
a group of William's knights rushed forward and 
succeeded in carrying off the ' Golden Dragon.' Mean- 
while Harold's life had come to an end by " the most 
glorious of deaths, fighting for the land and the people 
he had loved so well." 

The Sequel of Senlac, — Harold, the last of the old 
English kings, the hero who died on Senlac Hill, had 
formerly built a beautiful church at Waltham,^ in Epping 
Forest ; and, to this day, Waltham Holy Cross is ad- 
mired by many people who never think of King 
Harold. 

Two canons from Waltham followed their patron king 
to the battle, and when all was over asked leave from 
Duke William to carry Harold's body to Waltham Abbey. 
The Norman, however, refused ; and it is said that he 
also denied the body to Harold's mother, though she 
offered to ransom it by paying its weight in gold. 

What, then, became of the body of this great English 
king ? The victorious duke, it is said, told a knight in 
his army, who had known Harold, to carry his body to 
the sea-coast and raise a heap of stones over it : " For," 
said William, " he guarded the shore well when living, 
let him guard it now that he is dead." 

But it was difficult to find the body of the king. The 
priests of Waltham looked long amongst the slain, till at 
last Edith, "the swan-necked," who had known Harold 
well and loved him before he became king, found it 
beneath a heap of his slain friends. Then the body was 
carried by the two canons and the Norman knight to the 
sea-shore near Hastings, and many came to place a stone 
on the king's cairn. 

At last, however, when the Norman duke was safelv 



142 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



seated on the throne, he allowed the body of Harold to 
be removed to Waltham ; and there, in his own Church 
of the Holy Cross, the hero-king was finally laid to rest. 



1. Williaiu laiiJeil on the shore of Pevensey 
Bay, about seven miles north-west of 
Beachy Head. 'I'lie Normans sailed from 
St. Valen/, a small port on the P'rencli 
coast, thirty-five miles north of Rouen ; 
there is another port of the same 
name further north, at the mouth of the 
Somme. 

'.'. Barricade, akin to 'barrier' and 'bar,' that 
which krcjis back or protects. 

3. Hastings, on the south coast of En^'land, in 



Sussex. A few miles nurtli-west of Hast- 
inf;a is the small town of Battle, whose 
.abbey marks tlie scene of the struggle. 

Golden Dragon. The standard of the okJ 
Britons was the 'Red IJragon.' The West 
Saxons adopted the 'Golden Dragon' as 
their national standard. 

Waltham, in Essex, on the Lea, about thir- 
teen miles frnrn London. Tlie abbey was 
originally founded by Cnut, and was 
restored by Harold. 



HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLE LIVED IN THE 
OLDEN TIME. 

THE English who 
lived in those early 
days, from Alfred 
the Great 
down to 
Harold, had 
very different houses, 
dress, and occupa- 
tions, from what we 
ha\e in England 
now. 

In those early 
times the towns 
were small. Most 
of the people lived 
on farms — tilling the fields, sowing, reaping, or gather- 
ing the corn ; attending to the cows and oxen, the goats, 
geese, and poultry ; watching sheep ; or following the 




A SAXON TEACni.Sc: 111.^ EOV Tu I SK THE CROSS-BOW. 



HOW THE ENGLISH LIVED IN THE OLDEN TIME. 143 

large herds of swine that were then fed in the forests. 
The sheep were reared mainly for their wool ; so that, 
had you lived then, you could have bought a sheep in 
February for a shilling, which in June would be sold for 
perhaps five shillings ! 

The swine, again, w^ere kept in large numbers to 
serve as food for all classes. In the county of Essex 
alone, which then was nearly all forest, we read that 
ninety-three thousand were counted in one year. One 
nobleman left two thousand swine to his two daughters ; 
and another man gave land to the Church on condition 
that two hundred swine be fed for the use of his wife ! 

The early English had excellent gardens and orchards, 
though many of the fruits and vegetables now common 
were then unknown. There were hundreds of bee- 
hives in almost every village, and honey was nearly as 
common as bread; and many ages had yet to elapse before 
sugar was brought from abroad. From the honey they 
made 7nead, a drink used at all their feasts. 

Women of all ranks could spin thread, and weave or 
embroider cloth ; and we read that the ladies in King 
Alfred's family and the wife of Duke William of Nor- 
mandy were expert with the needle and at the distaft*. 

The houses of that period were mostly of wood ; and 
we are told of such large places as the Abbey of Croy- 
land,^ with its infirmary, chapel, baths, hall, brewery ," 
bakehouse, granary, and stables, all built of beams and 
boards. 

The common houses were poor enough, but the 
wealthier classes had their walls covered with rich 
hangings. Their chairs (often resembling camp-stools), 
benches, and tables were sometimes richly carved and 
ornamented with gold and silver. The ordinarv house 



144 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



had no bed-rooms. In one poem we read how, after 
the guests had supped, tlie tables were removed, and the 
men lay down to. sleep on beds which were brought in by 
the servants, and covered themselves with their cloaks. 

Everybody knows that King Alfred could play the 
harp. Other instruments of music used by the English 
were the horn, trumpet, flute, drum, cymbal, viol, lyre, 
and a sort of organ. Some of the gleemen"" who travelled 
from town to town not only played the harp or flute, 
but sang or even composed ballads ; and others could 
dance and perform clever tricks as jugglers,* or feats of 
strength as tumblers.^ 

The men of those days wore a tunic,'' linen or woollen 
(according to the season), reaching to the knee, with 

a short cloak over it, 
which was fastened at 
the throat or shoulder 
by a brooch. In the 
pictures of the poorer 
people, we generally see 
them bare-legged, but 
scarcely ever bare-footed. 
In our time many 
poor people seldom 
taste flesh-meat, but 
ANGLO-SAXON COSTUMES. ^^^^1^ tho early Englisli 

it was used largely by all classes. You must remem- 
ber, however, that it was not so good as what we can 
now buy ; and that it was not only salted during a great 
part of the year, but that they had scarcely any vege- 
table but colewort^ to eat with it, and often not even 
that. 

Though these early forefathers of ours had curious 




HOW THE ENGLISH LIVED IN THE OLDEN TIME. 145 

laouses and many curious habits, yet in some things we 
must admire them. They seem all to have used warm 
baths ; and when any stranger came to a friend's house, 
they always brought him water to wash his hands, and 
a hot foot-bath. 

Women were highly respected, and laws were made 
to compel men to treat them justly and honourably. 
We sometimes read of a queen sitting with the Witan 
(that is, the wise men who met together to advise the 
king) ; and you may remember how King Alfred's 
daughter, the Lady of Mercia, had great power in her 
time. 

When a man was thought to be guilty of a great crime, 
the judges of that rude period sometimes tried him in 
a very strange way. They ordered him to plunge his 
arm into scalding hot water, or carry a hot iron for 
three paces. Then after three days, if his wound had 
healed, he was declared innocent ; but if not, he was 
punished as guilty. This was called the ordeal. 

All the princes and nobles were fond of hunting and 
hawking; and even kings, as for example Alfred, 
Harold "Hare-foot," and Edward the Confessor, delighted 
in these sports. Perhaps you will be shocked to know 
that, up till the time of Hare-foot's father, it was very 
common to see the huntsmen start on a Sunday to chase 
the wild boar or the deer — some on horseback, some 
with hawks on their wrists, some shouting to the yelping 
dogs, and some in the distance already blowing their 
noisy horns. 

A thousand vassals mustered round, 
With liorse, and hawk, and horn, and hound ; 
And through the brake the rangers stalk, 
And falconers hold the ready hawk ; 

(H. 2.) K 



146 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



And foresters, in greenwood trim, 
Lead in the leash the gaze-hounds grim, 
Attentive as the slow-hounds' bay 
From the dark covert drove the prey, 
To slip them as he broke away. 
The startled quarry bounds amain, 
As fast the gallant greyhounds strain, 
While all the rocks and hills reply 
To hoof-clang, hound, and hunters' cry, 
And bugles ringing lightsomely. 

— Sir Walter Scott. 

I^ei'liaps the worst vices of our forefathers were their 
gluttony and drunkenness. The Frenchman, Italian, or 
Spaniard, did not eat and drink one quarter of what he 
saw consumed by an Englishman at one of his boisterous 
feasts, where huge joints Avere hacked and mangled 
by knives of every degree, and then washed down by 
deep and numberless draughts of coarse ale and mead. 
To every man of English blood (whether Angle or Saxon 
or Dane) it was a matter of course to drink till he was 
drunk at every feast ; and this rule was as faithfully ob- 
served by thanes,^ earls, and abbots,' as by the meanest 
labourers and serfs ! ^"^ 



1. Croyland monastery, in Lincolnshire, of 

which the ruins are still to be seen, w.is 
founded by Ethelbald, king of Mercia, in 
716. 

2. Brewery. The affix 1/ shows the 2'toce wherf, 

and is usually joined to the name of the 
doer. Cf. baker-y. smith-y, &c. 
a. Gleemen really me.ant 'singers.' The A.S. 
word glee meant ' music.' It afterwards 
came to mean mirth, joy, .'^jorf. The 
Saxons nsu.allysang to the music of a harp 
which they called glee-wood. 

4. Juggler, from a French word applied to one 

who performs tricks by 'sleiglit-of-hand.' 

5. Tumbler, one who performs tricks like a 

mountebank. 



1;. Tunic, a tight-fitting imder-garment worn l>y 
both sexes. 

7. Colewort or k.alc-plant, a species of cabbage. 
Shakespeare refers to it when he s.ays — 
■ While greasy Joan doth kele the pot." 

S. Thanes were the lowest r.ank of eorls or 
Hollies. They held at least five hides or 
CUO acres of land. The word means ner- 
rants of the king. They were also called 
Gesitha or C07nrades of the king. 

9. Abbot, literally 'father,' the head of an 

.abbey or monastery. 
10. Serfs, A.S. TIteoxcs or slaves. These were 
slaves by birth, or those who had lost their 
liberty through crime or for debt, or who 
were prisoners of war. 



'€^^t^^'^ 



THE CONQUEROR CROWJS'ED. 



147 



VIL ENGLAND UNDER THE 
NORMANS. 




THE CONQUEROR CROWNED. 

HO were the Normans ? — 

The Northmen were those 
wild tribes from Denmark, 
Norway, and Sweden, who 
came south to other parts 
of Em'ope and caused very 
great trouble, bloodshed and 
destruction. You have al- 
ready read of their landing 
in England, Scotland, and 
I'^rance, under the name of 
Danes.^ Though they wei-e 
so much hated and dreaded 
by the English, yet those savage Northmen were of the 
same race as the Jutes, Angles, and Saxons, who had 
sailed over to settle in this island a few centuries earlier.^ 
Many groups of the wild Northmen settled in France ; 
the chief band was that which sailed up the river Seine 
under i?o// the Ganger in the time of our king Alfred. 
Rolf, the tall Norseman, was also called Rou, and his 
capital was therefore called Rouen. As the power of 
the Northmen became greater, the country was called 
Normandy after them, and the people themselves were 
named Normands or Normans. 

Rolf the Ganger was thus the first Duke of Nor- 
mandy. He ruled it so well (Frenchmen afterwards 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEUOH. 



148 EARLY ENGLAND. 

said) that, when he hung up his golden bracelets on 
a tree, they remained there for more than three years 
and no man dared to touch them.^ The second Duke 
was Rolf's son, William of the Long Sword ; in his 
time the Normans ceased to speak their own northern 
tongue, but imitated their French neighbours in lan- 
guage, dress, manners and religion. Another Norman 
Duke was Richard the Fearless ; and in his reign and 
those of his successors, the descendants of tlie old Norse 
pirates rode about as Christian knights, feudal nobles, 
and ' gentlemen,' — for this is the very time when that 
famous word began first to be used. The sixth Duke 
was called Robert the Devil — a terrible nickname which 
the poor serfs ^ and peasantry gave him. This Duke had 
poisoned his own brother in order to be ruler of Nor- 
mandy ; and his son, William, was the rival of King 
Harold and the Conqueror of England. 

By this time the Normans had no trace left of their 
northern origin, except their large limbs and fair com- 
plexions, and perhaps their cruelty and love of fighting. 
To this very day, the people of Normandy differ in some 
respects from the rest of the people of France. 

Christmas Day in Westminster Abbey. — When 
King Harold and his brothers were killed by the Nor- 
mans at the battle of Senlac, the English had no leaders, 
and Duke William was very soon master of all the south 
of England. There were two powerful Earls in the 
north, Edwin and Morcar, who, as their armies were 
intact, might have done something ; but, on the news of 
Duke William's success, they at once hurried off, aud 
left the men of the south to meet the Conqueror as they 
best might. 

When the Normans had over-run all the country 



THE CONQUEROR CROWNED. 149 

round about Loudon, the citizens thouglit it wise to 
send a friendly deputation to Duke William. He, at 
first, would not enter their city ; but had a strong castle 
built outside the walls whence he might overawe the 
capital. On the completion of his new tower, he an- 
nounced that he would be crowned on the approaching 
Christmas-day in the Abbey of Westminster. 

There was very great stir and excitement that day 
in London. All the streets along which Duke William 
rode were lined with double rows of horsemen and 
foot- soldiers. As he entered the new Abbey, which 
was decked in grandest state, the Conqueror was at- 
tended by two hundred and sixty knights in splendid 
armour ; around the altar there thronged monks, priests, 
and bishops, in full canonicals.^ 

In one part of the building there stood a lai'ge 
number of Englishmen, and opposite them an equal 
number of Normans ; while at the doors and all round 
the Abbey outside the soldiers waited in eager sus- 
pense. One of William's bishops then asked the Nor- 
mans if they wished the Duke to become king of 
England. They assented with loud cheers. The Arch- 
bishop of York then put the same question to the 
English, and they shouted " Yea ! yea ! " with still 
louder cheers. 

So loud and confused, indeed, were the shouting, 
cheering and uproar, that the French soldiers outside 
the Abbey took alarm and thought their duke was 
being murdered. In a few minutes, they all rushed 
to attack some houses near the Abbey, killing many 
of the English whom they found ; and, presently, the 
little town of Westminster was all smoking and blaz- 
ing. Meanwhile the panic inside the Abbey equalled 



ISO 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



tlie mad tumult without — the Normans believing that 
the men of London had I'isen against them, and the 
English suspecting that they liad been brought there 
unarmed to be butchered by the crafty invaders. 

In frightful confusion, both English and foreigners 
hurried from the Abbey; and William was left, almost 
alone, beside the throne where he had been wait- 
ing for the Archbishop to anoint him. One Latin 
writer tells us that, brave soldier as he was, the Duke 
shook from head to foot. He refused, however, to 
put off the coronation; and thus it was that, with "so 
bad a grace, the Norman Duke was crowned king of 
England on Christmas-day, 1066. 



1. Danes, see p. 90. 

2. See p. 53. 

3. A legend which has appeared under many 

forms in different countries— «(/.. to show 
the good rule of Edwin over the Korth 



Angles, or that of Alfred over England, &c. 

4. Serfs, slaves. 

5. CaBonicals, i.e., tlie dress prescribed by the 

canons of the church for the clergy when 
ofliciating. 



CONQUEST AND CRUELTY. 

THOUGH crowned hj an English Archbishop in 
Westminster Abbey, the new king was not yet 
really master of the country. There was not only much 
fighting yet to do, but there were many difficulties of 
ruling and governing to overcome, which required great 
energy and resolution. 

The people of Exeter hated the invaders ; and, as that 
town was well fortified, they defied the new king and 
endured a siege which lasted eighteen days.^ 

William then marched as far as York to suppress a 
great insurrection " under the Eai'ls Edwin and Morcar. 
He defeated them and left a strong garrison in the 
northern capital. A Danish fleet, however, entered the 



CONQUEST AND CRUELTY. 



151 



Humber to join the English army. The Normans held 
the castle ; and, as they wished to have the ground clear 
all round, they set fire to the houses close by ; but the 
wind causing the flames to spread, the city and cathedral 
of York were speedily also on fire. It was during the 
confusion which followed that the English and Danes 
fell upon the Normans and slew them almost to a 
man. 

In Gloucestershire, there is a beautiful district called 




THE NORMANS ON THE MARCH. 



the Forest of Dean.'"' In the Norman king's time, this 
forest swarmed with red deer and wild boar ; and here 
King William was hunting when the news came that 
three thousand Normans had been slain by the English 
at Yoi'k. Mad with rage, he made a terrible vow that 
not a single Northumbrian should escape his vengeance. 
He at once summoned an army and marched to York. 
The Saxon leader, Waltheof,'* fought bravelv, but it was 



152 . EARLY ENGLAND. 

in vain. The city was taken, and the gallant defenders 
were put to the sword. 

After spending Christmas in York, the Norman king 
proceeded to carry out his cruel revenge on Northum- 
bria. He resolved to place a wilderness of more than 
sixty miles between his Normans and the Scottish 
border, by killing or driving away every living creature, 
by burning every house, and by destroying all that 
could support human life. 

To do this infamous work, the Norman army was 
divided into separate columns so as to spread widely 
over the doomed district. They began at the Ouse and 
slowly crossed Yorkshire, like a fatal and cursed blight, 
wasting, burning, and murdering ; till at last they 
reached the Tees,^ the Wear,*' and even the Tpie.^ 

Both English and French writers mention this bar- 
barity of King William in terms of horror and wonder ; 
some even saying that by the devastation and the famine 
that followed, as many as a hundred thousand persons 
perished. 

Returning from his barbarous revenge, the Norman 
king, though it was midwinter, led his men by a way 
so rough, that his army was broken up — the soldiers 
having to cross the rivers and mountains in detached 
parties. William himself once lost his way and spent 
a whole night without knowing where he was or where- 
abouts his soldiers were ; and, on reaching York, he found 
that nearly all their horses had perished in the snow ! 

Was the anger of the Norman king appeased ? Not 
for a moment. In a few weeks, in spite of storms of 
snow, sleet and hail, he ordered his knights to set out 
for Chester. When at last some of the French merce- 
naries began to grumble, William said, " Let them go ; 



COxYQUEST AND CRUELTY. 



153 



I don't want tliem ! " But they would not go back for 
very shame, since they saw their iron-willed leader 
sharing the same hardships and dangers. 

After taking the city of Chester, King William laid 
the foundations of a strong castle there, and left that 
district under the command of a Fleming, who became 
the first Earl of Chester. 








THK TUWEK OF LONiJoX. 



Marching south by Salisbury, William stopped at 
Winchester ; and in his castle there he no doubt enjoyed 
some rest after that toilsome winter campaio-n. 

William built many strongholds to overawe the Eug- 



154 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



lisli. Besides that at Winchester where he often lived, 
there were those of Hereford, Rochester and others ; and 
you may remember that he did not visit London till a 
tower was built for him just outside the city walls. He 
afterwards erected a stronger fortress there, and in some 
respects the Tower of London is the most interesting of 
all the buildings left by the Normans in England. 

When you visit the Tower you will see the square 
" Keep " in the centre much as it was in the time 
of the great Norman king, with the very council- 
chamber in which he and many kings after him sat 
and the Banqueting Hall where they dined. For the 
Tower of London was a palace as well as a citadel ; 
indeed, an old historian shows that it was used for seven ■ 
distinct and important purposes. It now serves for at 
least an eighth, since that same Banqueting Hall, where 
so many royal families have ate and drank, talked 
and laughed, is filled with many thousand stands of 
rifles. 



1. In 1068. 

■J. Insurrection, a rising against, a rebellion. 

IS. Forest of Dean, between the Severn and the 

Lower Wye. 
4. Waltheof, Earl of Nottinghnm, the last of 

llie Old English Earls. 



5. Tees. This river forms the boundary be- 

tween Yorkshire and Durham. 

6. Wear rises in the Pennine Chain : enters the 

sea at .Sunderland. 

7. Tyne. The lower Tyne flows between Dur- 

ham and XortluimberlanU. 



HEREWARD THE WATCHFUL. 

WHILE William the Norman and his knights were 
lording it over the English everywhere, the con- 
quered people often regretted the death of Harold and 
his brothers, and wished for another Alfred or Athelstan 
or an Edmund Ironside. At last a hei'o appeared, who 
was able for a long time to defy the Normans. 

Hereward was a man of Lincolnshire and had been 



HEREWARD THE WATCHFUL. 155 

deprived by the foreigners of his lands. Having formed 
a small army of Englishmen as brave and high-spirited 
as himself, he soon drove off the Normans from liis 
estate. Hearing that a French monk had been sent 
with a guard of Norman soldiers to take possession of 
the rich abbey of Peterborough/ Hereward marched 
thither ; and very soon the foreigners were dispersed, 
the concealed treasures of the monks plundered, and the 
abbey and the town set on fire. Much of the money was 
used to pay some Danes who had assisted the English in 
making tlie attack. 

The French monk resolved to punish Hereward for 
the loss of the rich abbey ; so he returned with a large 
force of Norman knights. It was not easy to find the 
English, because their fortress of wood Avas in the Isle of 
Ely, a district in the north of Cambridgeshire, then sur- 
rounded bv broad streams and marshes with dangferous 
pools. 

The monk, however, was certain of success, and urged 
the horsemen to advance. As their commander, Tailbois, 
witli the main body of the knights, entered a thick 
wood, the watchful Hereward suddenly pounced upon 
the astonished monk and his party, took them prisoners, 
and carried them and their horses away unobserved by 
Tailbois. The soldier-monk was then shut up in a 
damp dungeon till the sum of two thousand pounds was 
])aid to ransom him and his fellow-captives. 

There are many stories told of the wary and watch- 
ful Hereward. His fame as a bold leader was so 
great that Earl Morcar went to the Isle of Ely and 
lived with him in his " Camp of Refuge," as the 
fortress sometimes was called. At last, the Norman 
King himself determined to crush this daring enemy. 



156 EARLY ENGLAND. 

He raised a great army, and ordered a fleet of ships to 
keep watch on the adjoining coast. 

William had resolved to take the fortress, but how 
was it possible to reach it ? The waters all round the 
Isle were at no point less than two miles across ; and 
he spent much time in making bridges and constructing 
a causeway ^ of wood through the marsh. 

Hereward the Watchful made frequent attacks on 
William's men ; these assaults were so sudden and suc- 
cessful, that the Normans believed he was assisted by 
some evil spirit. Even Tailbois thought it must be so, 
perhaps remembering how suddenly his friend the Abbot 
had been snatched away in the wood ; and King William 
at length agreed that a witch should be brought in order 
that her spells and charms might act against and undo 
those of the English ! 

A high tower was erected, whence William could 
see his men laying the road through the marsh, and 
watch the movements of the English. It was decided 
to place the witch on the top of this tower to work 
her spells. Hereward, however, seemed little daunted 
or damaged by her magical influence ; for his sallies ^ 
were as daring and deadly as ever. One day, after 
some dry weather, he set fire to the reeds and brush- 
wood by the edge of the marsh, so that the flames 
spread to the wood-work ; and before William's knights 
could come to their assistance, the tower with the 
workmen and soldiers around and the witch on the 
top were all burnt. 

King William, however, would not withdraw. After 
a close siege of three months, the English were short 
of provisions ; and some of the monks urged Hereward 
to send a message to the Norman king proposing a sur- 



CHANGES MADE BY THE CONQUEST. 157 

render. On his refusal, it is said that they secretly 
promised to show the Normans a safe passage through 
the fens, on condition that the houses and lands be- 
longing to their monastery should not be touched. 

Another account is that Morcar and some of the other 
leaders lost heart ; but, whatever the true reason was, 
King William at last gained the famous Isle. All in 
the English camp, except Hereward, submitted to the 
Normans. He, watchful and brave as ever, suddenly 
cut his way through the enemy, and reached his native 
county of Lincoln in safety. 

The last we hear of Hereward the Watchful, is that 
after some years King William made him offers of 
friendship and received him into favour. The bold 
bearing and manliness of Hereward were admired by 
all his enemies ; and it became a saying among them 
that " if there had been three more men in the land 
like him, the Normans would never have taken it." 

1. Peterborough, a cathedral city on I 2. Causeway, a raised way or path, 
the Nen. I 3. Sallies, sudden attacks. 



CHANGES MADE BY THE CONQUEST. 

WE have already read of William the Norman's 
barbarity in turning a very large district in York- 
shire and Durham into a wilderness. In Hampshire also 
the people were driven from their homes in order to 
provide him with a hunting-ground, which was certainly 
no sufficient reason for causing misery to so many 
families. 

You remember how King William was hunting in 
the Forest of Dean when the news came to him that 
all the Normans in York had been killed bv the 



158 EARLY ENGLAND. 

English. Strangely enough, he had been also hunting 
in a forest near Rouen and in the very act of bending 
his famous bow/ when the messenger arrived to say that 
Edward the Confessor was dead and that Harold had 
been crowned King of England. 

In fact, hunting was a passion with William, and 
though there were already many royal parks and forests 
in England he formed the new hunting-ground ^ near 
his palace of Winchester. That large district, ninety- 
miles round, was thus laid waste for one man's pleasure ; 
and fertile farms and manors, villages and towns (in- 
cluding, it is said, thirty-six parish churches) were all 
destroyed to make room for " His Majesty's wild 
beasts." 

An English writer of that time says of the royal forests, 
that " King William made laws for thetn, that whoever 
should slay hart or hind, him man should blind ; as 
ho forbade the slaying of harts, so also did he of boars. 
So much he loved the high deer as if ho had been 
their father. His rich men moaned and the poor men 
murmured, but he was so hard that he recked not^ the 
hatred of them all. Alas ! that any man should be 
so moody, and should so puff up himself, and think 
himself above all others ! " 

Those Norman Forcst-Lcncs were a source of great 
misery throughout England, because in many parts 
there were thousands who had depended upon the chase 
for a living. The old English kings, such as Alfred 
and Edgar, and even the Confessoi-, had also been fond 
of hunting ; but in their times, as we have already 
said, every man was allowed to kill all the game on 
his own land. 

The Normans also introduced the Curfno^ Brll into 



CHANGES MADE BY THE CONQUEST. 159 

England ; and very hateful was its sound to every man 
and woman of tlie subject race, who felt it to be a 
badge and daily reminder of servitude. On the other 
hand, it appears that the Norman invaders had already 
been accustomed to it as a precaution against lire, for 
at that time houses were mostly built of wood. It 
was probably also intended to prevent certain " clubs " 
or meetings at night of the discontented Saxons, wlio 
no doubt took every opportunity of plotting against the 
Normans. 

Even English WTiters say that William the Norman 
enforced law and justice. He renewed the old laws, 
and pi'omised to govern as an English King ; and 
though Normans became lords of the land, still they 
were compelled to live as English lords and to respect 
the English laws and customs. 

William even forbade any criminal to be punislied 
with death. He also prohil)ited th(> sale, of men into 
slavery ; and we read of St. Wulfstan urging the people 
of Bristol to observe this good law — that seaport having 
then much trade in slaves. 

You have already seen that the Normans did mucli 
to improve the art of building. To this day their 
chui'ches and castles are greatly admired. But they did 
more than that for our country ; they brought over 
many learned men, such as Archbisliop Lantranc and 
after him Archbishop Anselm, who by their teaching 
and their books led men to read and think as Alfred 
the Great had done in former days. 

There is another act of William which is too im- 
portant to be passed over. This was a survey of his 
kingdom, copied into two large volumes called the 
Domesday Bool-/' Men went throughout the counties 



i6o 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



and registered every estate, giving its size, what portions 
were arable, pasture, meadow, or wood, the name of the 
owner and the feudal service due by him, and also who 
had held it in King Edward's reign, with its previous 
and its present value. From this record, we know that 
all the people then in the land were under two million in 
number; and also that, while the largest estates were 
held by Normans, in many parts there still were English 
landholders. 



1. Famous because, according to Norman tra- 

dition, no man but he could bend it. 

2. Still called the New Forest. 

3. Becked not, cared not. Cf. reckless. 



4. Curfew, from the French cnuvrc-feu, meaning 

the 'fire-cover.' 

5. Domesday Book was compiled in 1085-6 ; now 

kept in the Chapter House at Westminster. 



CLOSE OF THE CONQUEROR'S REIGN. 

THOUGH so successful as the ruler of a great country, 
King William had much unhappiness. He had pro- 
mised that, if, he gained England, he should give Nor- 
mandy to his eldest son. But when Robert claimed the 
duchy, King William said, " My son, I never throw off 
my clothes till I go to bed." This breach of faith raised 
a bitter feeling between William and Eobert. The two 
vounofer sons, William and Henrv, whom the king 
treated with great favour, did their utmost to aggravate 
the quarrel ; and King William even forbade Queen Ma- 
tilda to send any message or assistance to her eldest son. 
After various adventures in Flanders, Gascony,^ and 
other lands, Robert settled for some time at the French 
court ; and soon after King Philip gave him a castle 
near Normandy, called Gcrhcroi.''^ There he was joined 
by many knights, attracted by promises of pay and plun- 
der. King William heard that a number of Normans, 
and even some of his own household, were serving under 



CLOSE OF THE CONQUEROR'S REIGN. i6i 

his rebellious son. Full of rage, he at once left England 
with a large army to punish Robert. 

The castle of Gerberoi, however, was very strong, and 
all efforts to take it were in vain. At last, a strange 
combat between two knights suddenly brought the siege 
to a close. One knight was from the castle, the other 
belonged to the besiegers ; both were well mounted and 
in full armour, with their visors down ; and as they 
spurred their horses to deadly encounter, you might 
see that both were men of vigour and daring. The 
besieging knight was unhorsed, and as he shouted to 
his companions for help, the victor recognised the 
voice as that of King William himself. Quickly dis- 
mounting, he fell on his knees and entreated pardon 
with many tears. For it was the son Robert who had 
fought with and wounded his father. 

The humbled king gave up the siege in disgust, and 
returned to Rouen. 

King William met with another, and this time fatal, 
misfortune in Normandy. He had become very fat 
and unwieldy; and in the year 1087, as he lay at 
Rouen, he was much annoyed by reports that King 
Philip's knights harried and plundered the lands of the 
Normans. William already hated King Philip for 
having assisted Robert and for other acts against Nor- 
mandy, so he sent an angry message to the French 
court. The only reply given by Philip was to make a 
jest to his courtiers about William's corpulence. When 
the messengers told this to the hot-tempered Norman 
king, he got into a furious rage and swore that, as soon 
as he recovered, he would make the King of France pay 
dearly for the jest. 

In the liarvest-time tliat vear, King William, as 
(...) " • ■ ^ 



1 62 



EARLY ENGLAND. 




WILLIAM AND ROBERT. 



CLOSE OF THE CONQUEROR'S REIGN. 16.1 

soon as lie could mount his war-horse, hastened to 
revenge himself upon the King of France. On his 
way to Mantes,^ as soon as he had crossed the boundary 
of Normandy, he ordered his knights to lay waste the 
surrounding country. 

Mantes itself, which is built on a hill by the beauti- 
ful Seine, was speedily taken ; and after putting the 
citizens to the sword, William ordered his Normans to 
set fire to every house and building, whether cottage 
or castle, church or hostelry. When the town was 
thus in flames, he rode amongst the smoking ruins ; 
and it was there that he met his fate. His war-horse, 
happening to tread on a hot ember which had fallen 
from one of the burning houses, suddenly reared and 
plunged so violently that King William was dashed 
heavily against the pommel of the saddle and seriously 
bruised and hurt. He dismounted in great pain ; 
and had to be carried slowly in a litter all the way to 
Rouen. 

The Nonnan King was never again to see England ; 
never again to spend Easter ^ at Winchester, Pentecost * 
at Westminster, or Christmas ■* at Gloucester. During 
the three weeks that he lay at Rouen on his deathbed, 
he showed repentance for the evil that he had done. 
He sent money to rebuild Mantes, and ordered large 
sums to be given to the churches and religious houses 
in England. He left Normandy to his eldest son 
Robert ; as for his kingdom of England, he said he 
should leave God to decide who should rule it, but 
that he wished his son William to succeed him as 
King. To his third son, Henry, King William gave 
no land ; presenting him instead with five thousand 
pounds of silver. 



164 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



Some clays afterwards the body of tlae great Con- 
queror was brought down to the broad river Seine, and 
taken by boat from Rouen to the church at Cacn^ which 
he had himself founded. 



1. Gascony, iu the south-west of France, be- 
tween the Garonne and the Pyrenees. 

'J. Gerberol, on the borders of Normandy, near 
Beauvais. 

3. Mantes, about thirty-four miles north-west 
(if Paris. 



4. Those were the three occasions, according to 

tlio SaxoB Chronicle, wlien William wore 
his crown every year when he was iu 
England. 

5. Caen, on the small river Orno, ten miles from 

its mouth. 



THE BURIAL OF THE CONQUEROR, 

LOWLY upon his bier 
The royal Conqueror lay ; 
Earon and chief stood near, 
Silent in war array. 

They lowered him Avith the sound 
Of requiems ^ to repose ; 
When from the throngs around 
A solemn voice arose : 

" Forbear ! forbear ! " it cried, 
" In the holiest name forbear ! 
He hath conquered regions wide, 
But he shall not slumber tliere ! 

" By the violated hearth 
Which made way lor yon proud shrine : 
By the harvests which this earth 
Hath borne for me and mine ; 

" By the home e'en here o'erthrown, 
On my brethren's native spot; — 
Hence with his dark renown, 
Cumber our birthplace not ! 

" Each pillar's massy bed 

Hath been wet by weeping ej'es ; 

Away ! bestow your dead 

Where no voice against him cries." 



THE BURIAL OF THK CONQUEROR, 




THE BUKIAL Ob THE CO^QUEROR. 

Shame glowed on each dark face 
Of these proud and steel-girt men, 
And they bought with gold a place 
For their leader's dust e'en then — • 

A little earth for him 

Whose banner flew so far ! 

And a peasant's tale could dim 

The name — a nation's star ! — Mrs. Hemans. 

1. Requiems, masses for the dead ; solemn songs. 



i66 



EARLY ENGLAND. 




WILLIAM RUFUS. 



WILLIAM RUFUS AND HIS BROTHERS. 

VEN before the breath 
had left tlie body of his 
father, William the Red 
had started for England ; 
and he at once seized the 
strong castles of Dover, 
Pevensey and Hastings. He 
then hurried to Winchester 
to claim the royal treasures 
which were kept there. The 
keys being delivered to him 
by his father's treasm^er, he 
found himself master of sixty 
thousand pounds of pure silver, with much gold and 
many precious stones. 

The leading man then in England was Lanfranc, a 
learned priest whom the Conqueror had made Arch- 
l)ishop of Canterbur}". Lanfranc was devoted to the 
Normans, although himself an Italian. He not only 
assisted the Red King to secure the crown, but, when 
some of the Norman nobles rebelled in favour of Duke 
Robert, kept all the bishops and many others faithful to 
William. 

William the Red had much of the high spirit and 
courage of his father, but he lived a more vicious and 
reckless life ; and after the death of Lanfranc, he was 
guilty of' great cruelty and tyranny. His chief minister 
was a low-born Norman churchman, Ralph, nicknamed 
Flambard (the Firebrand). He made the King laugh 
with his coarse jests and boisterous mirth ; while, as 



WILLIAM RUFUS AND HIS BROTHERS. 167 

royal treasurer, lie extorted money by every cunning 
and impudent de\dce to pay for William's extravagance 
and riot. 

William and some of his friends resolved to punish 
Duke Robert of Normandy, because he had attemjited 
to gain the crown of England. Many of the Norman 
castles were captured before Robert took any part in 
the lio-htino- ; and Rouen his chief town would have 
been lost by the treachery of Conan a wealthy citizen, 
had not Robert got his youngest brother Henry to 
assist him. He had previously quarrelled with Henry, 
and according to one account even put him in prison ; 
but now they both agreed in fighting together against 
their brother the king of England. 

On entering Rouen, Henry wished to punish Conan 
with death ; but Duke Robert (like his father the Con- 
queror) was very averse to hanging or beheading any 
criminal, and ordered him to be imprisoned for life. 
Henry thought his brother was too soft-hearted ; and it is 
said that, some days after, he went to the tower where 
Conan was confined, and took the prisoner to the top of 
a high turret, and that while speaking with him, he 
suddenly caught the doomed man by the waist and 
hurled him over the battlements ! " ^ When one of his 
friends showed horror at this fearful act, Henry merely 
replied that it was very unfitting that a traitor should 
ever escape punishment. 

Not long after, Rufus went to Normandy and made 
an agreement with Robert — that if William died first, 
Robert should become king of England ; and, if the 
duke died first, that William should obtain Normandy. 
Both brothers now united against Henry, William being 
very jealous of his youngest brother's ability and energy. 



i68 ■ EARLY ENGLAND. 

'^riiey overran liis t+^rritory and soon took all his .strong- 
holds except one, a famous castle on a lofty rock on the 
coast of Normandy. 

This castle of Mont St. Michael^ was so strong that 
it was impossible to take it by storm, therefore King 
AVilliam resolved to starve the garrison out, and was 
glad to hear that the besieged had neglected to provide 
themselves with water. The kind-hearted Robert, on 
the other hand, allowed some of his followers to cai'ry 
some water secretly into the castle, with a present of 
Avine for Henry himself This came to the knowledge 
of the Red King, and in a great passion he asked his 
elder brother what he meant by such madness, " Oh!" 
said Duke Robert, with great simplicity, " how can I 
let my brother die of thirst ? Where shall we find 
another brother when he is gone ? " 

There is another story about the siege of this castle 
on the rock. One day King William was riding on 
the coast without any companions, when two of Henry "s 
soldiers met him and attacked him. In a moment he 
was unhorsed, and as one of the men raised a dag-crer to 
kill him, AVilliam ci'ied " Hold, knave ! I am the king 
of England ! " The astonished soldier not only spared 
his life, but assisted him again to his saddle with such 
respect that the Red King took a great fancy for the 
man, and afterwards made a great favourite of him. 

Henry was obliged to surrender his strong castle ; 
and, deprived of all that he had, for some time after 
wandered al^out in poverty, an " errant knight." Who 
would then have suspected that he should one day wear 
the crown of England with power and honour ? 

The Knig-hts of the Cross.— It was in the reign of 



WILLIAM RUFUS AND HIS BROTHERS. 169 

AYilliam the lied King that those strange wars called, 
the Crusades^ first began. What were the Ci'usades? 

There was a monk called Peter the Hermit, who had 
travelled all the way from Amiens* in France to Jeru- 
salem ; and, on his return, he told terrible tales of how 
the Christians in the Holy Land were treated by the 
IMoharamedans. The Hermit spoke with such enthusiasm 
that nearly all who heard him believed he had been sent 
by God for the delivery of Jerusalem from the followers of 
the False Prophet. Wherever he went, excited crowds 
flocked to hear him ; and many followed him for miles 
as he passed from one province or city to another, bare- 
headed and barefooted, clad in a hermit's coarse cloak, 
with a cord round his waist, and holding a crucifix in 
his hand. 

Never perhaps did eloquence work such wonders 
as did the preaching of this remarkable man. The Pope 
had to put himself at the head of the movement ; and 
when he urged every man to offer himself as a soldier 
to deliver the Holy City from the Saracens, an army was 
immediately formed to march to Palestine. That march 
of Christians against the Mohammedans in the Holy 
Land was called a ' Crusade,' or war of the cross. Many 
thousands of the Crusaders perished long before they 
reached the Holy Land. Of a huge army of more 
than half a million fighting men who set out in the 
year 1097, it is said that only forty thousand reached 
Jerusalem two years later. After a siege of six weeks, 
they took the Holy City, put many thousand Moham- 
medans to the sword, and burnt the Jews in their 
synagogues.^ 

Among the hundreds of Norman knights who joined 
the first crusade, one of the most conspicuous was 



I70 EARLY ENGLAND. 

Duke Robert. In order to have money enough for so 
great an expedition, he gave up Normandy for five years 
to his brother William for ten thousand merks. 



1. Battlements, the parapi'ts behind wiiich 

tlic defenders of a castle discharged their 
missiles at the enemy. 

2. Mont St. Michael, in the Bay of St. Malo, on 

the extreme west of Xormandy. 



3. Crusades, that is, 'Wars of the Cross,' so 

called from the Latin crux, a cross. 

4. Amiens, on the Somme, 70 miles north of 

Paris. 

5. Synagogues, Jewish places of worship. 



THE RED KING IN THE FOREST. 

THE great forest made in Hampshire by William the 
Conqueror was called the New Forest, as it still 
is ; and the favourite amusement of William the Red 
was to hunt there. One day a messenger came to him, 
when thus engaged, to say that some of his newly- 
acquired subjects in France had revolted. In an instant, 
he hurried from the forest to the nearest sea-port ; and, 
in spite of a threatening storm, he went on board the 
first sailing vessel he found there. The sailors urged 
the danger of putting out to sea in such a gale ; but 
the Red King ordered them to weigh anchor and 
hoist their sails. " Did you ever hear of a king 
being drowned ? " he asked ; though, as one old histo- 
rian remarks, they might have reminded their fiery 
king of Pharaoh and the Red Sea. Landing next day 
on the French coast, William speedily asserted his 
authority at Mans ^ where the insurrection had taken 
place. 

On another day in the same year, his sport in the 
New Forest was again suddenly interrupted, but this 
time in a very different fashion. The common people 
had many superstitious" tales about the place, which was 
connected in their minds with the Conqueror's cruel 



THE RED KING IN THE FOREST. 



171 



evictions^ and liis tyrannical Forest laws. A brother of 
William had met his death in this very forest, and 
this same year his nephew, the son of Dnke Robert, 
had been killed by an arrow. Some hinted darkly that 
these were judg-ments on the family, and that others 
would yet follow. The king, however, went on the first 




THE MESSENGER WARNING RCFUS. 

of August to his hunting-seat in the forest with a 
number of knights, among whom was his brother Henry. 
The chase was to begin next day ; but, in the dead of 
night, the Red King was disturbed by horrible dreams 
and would not remain alone till morning. 

At breakfast he was more boisterous than usual, 



172 EARLY ENGLAND. 

laughing and talking loudly. A messenger from a certain 
abbot warned the king, on account of a dream, not to go 
hunting that day. With a loud laugh the king said, 
'' Give him a hundred pence, and tell him next time 
to dream better fortune to our person." 

AVhether afraid or not, William delayed the hunt ; 
and in the afternoon, when about to start, his mirth 
still seemed as forced as it was noisy. Just then a man 
brought him six new arrows, which he praised for their 
make ; and two of them he gave to Sir Walter Tyrrel 
who stood by, saying, " A good sportsman should have 
good weapons." 

They all started for the hunt — William in one 
direction with Sir Walter TyiTel as his only companion ; 
Prince Henry, and the other knights and hunters, in 
other directions. No man knows what then happened ; 
except that soon after two knights found the King 
lying on the ground, pierced in the breast with an 
arrow. Who shot that fatal shaft we cannot tell. 
Tyrrel, who was accused of the deed, fled to France. 
Some think there had been a conspiracy* to murder the 
Red King, and that perhaps his brother Prince Henry 
had a share in it. 

The New Forest was near Winchester. To that 
town, in the evening of the following day, there came 
a country cart followed by some peasants and woodmen 
In it lay the dead body of the Red King, all covered 
with blood and mire. All his knights and gay com- 
]ianions had left him on the ground ; and even the two 
Norman gentlemen who had found the dying king had 
hurried away. 

William was called the Red on account of the colour 
of his skin. His hair was flaxen in youth, and after- 



HENRY SEIZES THE CROWN. 



173 



wards yellow. In his later years, like his father, he 
became very fat ; and from his sudden bursts of anger, 
his fierce and scowling looks, and loud voice, he came 
to be both hated and feared by all around him. 



1. Mans, capital of llaine, about 120 miles 

snuth-we3t of Paris. 

2. Superstitious, literally, being exeessive in 

anything ; having exaggerated belief in 



mysterious or supernatural powers. 

3. Eviction. «.\pulsion of people from tlieir 

liomeg. 

4. Conspiracy, secret plot. 



HENRY SEIZES THE CROWN. 

F all the knights and hunts- 
men who abandoned the 
TRed King in the forest, 
there was none more selfish 
than his brother. Prince 
Henry. Long before Wil- 
liams body was brought to 
Winchester, Henry had rid- 
den into that town and de- 
^manded the royal treasures 
'l> there, somewhat as the Red 
King himself had done thir- 
teen years previously. 
Had the death of William happened a week later, 
Henry might never have been king of England, for his 
elder brother Duke Robert was about to arrive in Nor- 
mandy on his return from the Holy Land. It seemed 
as if everything had been arranged; for, after being 
proclaimed king at Winchester on Friday (the day 
after his brother's death), we find him on the Sunday 
following sixty miles off in Westminster Abbey, near 
London. As he stood before the altar there, ^ Henry 
promisecl to anniiP all the unrighteous acts of hin 




HENRT I. 



174 EARLY ENGLAND. 

brotlier's reign, and was then anointed king by the 
Bishop of London. 

The new monarch was very careful to remind the 
people that, having been born at Selby^ in Yorkshire, 
he was an Englishman. He also pleased the Saxons by 
marrying Matilda of Scotland, the daughter of Margaret 
the sister of Edgar Atheling. You may remember that 
Edgar and Margaret went to the Scottish court when 
England was conquered by William the First, and there 
she married Malcolm Canmore. The marriage of Henry 
with Matilda, " of the right kingly kin of England," 
was approved of by Archbishop Anselm, who had left 
the country during the Red King's reign but was now 
restored to his see of Canterbury and held in great 
honour. 

Henry made many promises to his subjects. He 
signed a charter in which he undertook not to seize 
the property and revenues^ of the church ; not to treat 
the barons and other vassals* of the crown so harshly as 
the Red King had done ; and to restore the laws of 
King Edward the Confessor, which were especially dear 
to the Saxons. 

Queen Matilda was fond of learning ; and, like her 
mother, Margaret of Scotland, was ever kind and charit- 
able to the poor. Henry himself was called Beau- 
clerc, or the Good Scholar, because he could read and 
write well — an accomplishment which few knights of 
those days ever thought worth while to acquire. 

King Henry not only recalled the learned Archbishop 
Anselm, but he speedily dismissed all the friends of the 
Red King from court. The chief of these was Flam- 
bard the Firebrand, who had so greedily forced money 
from the people ; and the new king was very willing to 



HEXRY SEIZES THE CROWN. 17;; 

punish liim, as the great wealth he had amassed would 
then be forfeited to the crown. Flarabard was thrown 
into the Tower ; and, it is said, he so amused his jailors 
by his coarse jokes and bribed them with presents, that 
they allowed him to receive messages from his friends 
without. One day, a large vessel of wine was brought 
to him ; in it a rope was hidden. Flambard, after mak- 
ing his keepers drunk with the wine, fastened the rope 
to the top of one of the turrets and so escaped. He then 
fled to Normandy and incited Duke Kobert to make war 
upon his brother. 

Robert knew there were many Normans in England 
favourable to him, and soon landed at Portsmouth,^ where 
he was joined by a number of barons with their followers. 
Henry, however, had gained the good-will of the English, 
and was supported by the Church. The two armies of 
the rival brothers remained inactive for several days ; 
ultimately Robert agreed to withdraw his army, upon 
Henry's promising to pay him three thousand marks 
yearly. 

Duke Robert was soon in greater difficulties than 
ever. Through his careless management of Normandy, 
he could scarcely raise any money ; and though already 
burdened with heavy debts, he made a present to Queen 
Matilda of the sum which her husband had undertaken 
to pay. King Henry, however, shared no such gene- 
rous weakness ; for when he saw a chance of taking- 
Normandy, he sailed over with a large army, and de- 
feated his brother at the battle of Tenchcbrai.^ Duke 
Robert himself was taken prisoner, brought to England, 
and shut up in Cardiff^ Castle in Wales. 

There is one more story of Robert which, if true, 
proves how hard-hearted his brother Henry was, and 



176 EARLY ENGLAND. 

may remind you of his treatment of the citizen of Rouen 
at the beginning of the Red King's reign. One day, 
when walking out with his keepers, Robert suddenly 
leapt on horseback and galloped off; but being ignorant 
of the country, he was soon captured in a morass into 
which his horse had brought him. When this news 
reached King Henry, he cruelly ordered his brother's 
jailor to inflict a horrible punishment — to hold a red-hot 
iron basin over Robert's eyes till sight was destroyed. 
Whether this terrible story be true or not, it is certain 
that the eldest son of the conqueror died in Cardiff 
Castle only a few months before the death of his cruel 
and selfish brother. 

1. Annul, to cancel, withdraw. 1 .". Portsmouth, in Ilainpshirc, now the chiel 

'_'. Selby, on the Ouse, about 12 miles south of i iiiival port on the south coast of England 

York. ' fi. Tenchebrai, in Normandy, about 140 milei 

;t. Eevenue, the annual Income. i west of Paris. 

4. Vassals, those who hi feudal times held laud , 7. Cardiff, In .South Wales, at the mouth of the 

under a superior were called his vassals. | .Severn. 



THE WRECK OF THE WHITE SHIP. 

THOUGH King Henry had little pity for tlie woes of 
others, there was one misfortune which made liim 
suffer keenly and filled him Avith unceasing sorrow. 
His only son was Willicnn, who, in his seventeenth 
year, accompanied his father to Normandy, and was 
acknowledged by the Norman nobles as their lord. 
Prince William was then presented to King Louis of 
France as lord of Normandy, and was betrothed to the 
daughter of the Count of Anjou. His father, Henry, pre- 
pared to return to England full of pride and satisfaction. 
When the royal party reached the sea-shore, a ship- 
captain came to the English king and said, " Sire, my 
father, Stephen, served your royal father for many years 



THE WRECK OF THE WHITE SHIP. 



177 



as a seaman, and steered his ship when he sailed to 
conquer England ; and I now beg to do the same office 
for your Majesty. I have a vessel, the * White Ship,' 
Avell-built and well-equipped, and manned by fifty of 
the best seamen in Normandy." The king had already 
chosen a ship for himself; but he said he should entrust 
the prince to the care of the mariner Fitz-Stephen. 
Soon after, tlie king's party set sail for England. 




WRECK OF THK WHITE bHIi. 



Meanwhile, Prince William, with a large company 
of ladies and gentlemen, spent their time in feasting; 
and when at last the sails were set, it was evident that 
the crew had drunk too much wine. Fitz-Stephen, 
however, was confident that they could yet overtake 
the king's ship, and was urging the sturdy rowers 
whilst he himself steered, when all at once the ' White 
Ship ' struck on a rock and began rapidly to fill with 

(H. 2.) M 



178 EARLY ENGLAND. 

water. Amidst the terror and confusion, Fitz-Stephen 
lowered a small boat, and hurrying the prince and a 
few of his companions into it, pushed them off in 
safety, telling them to row back to land. 

But among the shrieks which rose from the sinking 
ship, the prince heard the voice of his sister entreating 
him not to leave her. He ordered the rowers to return ; 
and, as soon as they came near the ill-fated vessel, their 
boat was at once filled by so many desperate men that 
in another moment it went down, and the ' White Ship ' 
also disappeared beneath the waves. ^ 

Two men escaped immediate death by clinging to 
a floating spar — one a butcher of Rouen, the other a 
young nobleman. In a few hours, the latter was so 
benumbed and exhausted that he could hold on no 
longer ; and, with a prayer for his companion's safety, 
he sank, and the waves closed over him. The next 
morning the poor butcher, the sole survivor of that 
merry company, was rescued by some fishermen. 

No one dared to tell King Henry the news of the ship- 
Avreck. When he heard of it, he fell to the ground in 
a swoon ; and it is said that he was never afterwards 
seen to smile. The English people, however, did not 
share his sorrow ; because, though the drowned prince 
was the son of the good queen Matilda,^ he had always 
shown a spite against her race. He had frequently 
said to the Norman lords that, when he became king, 
the English would " draw the plough ; " and that they 
were only fit to be " beasts of burden." 

Heartless and selfish as Henry was, he deserved his 
title of ' the Scholar ; ' for there is no doubt that, con- 
sidering how little learning there then was in Europe, 
he had studied to some advantage and was fond of men 



THE CONQUEROR'S GRANDSON. 



179 



of letters. He used to say that a king without learning 
was nothing better than a crowned fool ! He was also 
fond of wild animals, and one writer tells us that, in 
his park at Woodstock, he kept " all kinds of strange 
beasts, as lions, leopards, lynxes, camels, porcupines, and 
the like." 

Henry married his daughter Matilda to the sou ^ of 
the Count of Anjou ; and although her son afterwards 
became king of England, he was guilty of many cruel 
acts. Henry enforced the laws very strictly. He 
curbed the power of the barons, and restrained them 
from oppressing the common people. He preserved order, 
though he did not extend the liberties of his people. 



1. This happened in 1120. 
;. Note 2. pajre 131. 

3. Geoffrey Plantagenet. He got tlie name of 
Plante-grnH or 'Broom-plant,' because he 



used to wear a sprig of that pretty shrub 
In his cap when hunting. Gciitt is the 
French word for broom (Lat. gtnista). 



THE CONQUEROR'S GRANDSON. 

S soon as Henry was dead 
there was great confusion in 
England. The barons, now 
that their stern master was 
gone, acted in the most op- 
^ pressive way ; the common 
people, to show their hatred 
^(1 of the Norman Forest Laws, 
now ravaged the royal parks 
A and forests, so that in a short 
time there was scarcely a 
single hart or red-deer to be 
STEPHEN. (5gg^ Q^ ^]jQ Crown -lands.^ 

Robberv and other crimes again became common. 




i8o 



EARLY ENGLAND. 




THK IJISHOP OF DURHAM ]iLESSlNG THE TIiOOP«. 



THE CONQUEROR'S GRANDSON. iSi 

The late king had done everything to secure the 
crown for his daughter Matilda, but nobody in England 
loved her ; perhaps she resembled her father too much. 
' Neither Englishmen nor Normans ever had had a queen 
to reign over them, and both races therefore refused to 
acknowledge the haughty daughter of Henry as their 
sovereign. 

This was a good opportunity for Stephen, the Con- 
queror's grandson. Stephen was the son of Adela the 
sister of King Henry, and had married Maud, the niece 
of King David of Scotland and of Henry's queen 
Matilda. Stephen was already well known in England, 
and much liked by the people ; and when he ap- 
peared in London after Henry's death he was welcomed 
with great joy, at once proclaimed king by the citizens, 
and crowned at Westminster. 

Like the two preceding kings, Stephen hurried to 
Winchester in order to seize the royal treasui'es ; ^ and, 
as his brother was bishop of this See, ^he had no 
difficulty in obtaining the keys. The royal coffers 
contained a hundred thousand pounds, besides valuable 
plate and jewels. This money he used partly to pro- 
cure him friends and supporters, and partly to hire 
foreign soldiers. Other powerful men he made friendly 
by giving them large estates belonging to the crown. 
The people generally, as well as the barons and clergy, 
were pleased by the promises which he liberally made 
to govern justly and to respect their liberties. 

The Scots in Yorkshire. — Matilda, the daughter of 
King Henry, was meanwhile preparing to claim the 
crown of England. Her uncle. King David of Scotland, 
took up her cause, and led an army into the north of 
England; but many of his soldiers were lialf-savage 



1 82 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



Islesmen^ and Galloway-men*, who killed and pillaged 
with almost as great ferocity as the Danes did in olden 
times. 

The men of Yorkshire were so enraged that they 
gathered a large army, and completely defeated the 
Scots in the battle of Northallerton!' This victory is 
often called the Battle of the Standard, because the 
English rallied round the banners of the three northern 
saints wliich were borne aloft upon a high mast and 
surmounted by the silver pyx. 

As the aged iiishop of Durham was praying for 
victory and blessing the kneeling warriors, the sun's 
rays burst from behind a cloud. All hailed this as a 
good omen, and eagerly prepared for the figlit. 

The centre of the Scottish army consisted of Low- 
landers, svho in race and language were akin to the 
men of Yorkshire themselves ; but the half-naked Picts 
from Galloway and the Western Isles fought so wildly 
that King David soon lost all command of them. The 
mixed array was completely broken by the well-disci- 
plined and mail-clad soldiers of the south. The English 
archers also did great service, and gave promise of the 
wonderful skill which afterwards won the most important 
victories of the Middle Ages. Eleven thousand of the 
invaders are said to have fallen in the field. In spite of 
this decisive battle, Stephen was glad to consent to a 
treaty by which Matilda's son was to receive Northumbria, 
and the Scottish king to retain Cumberland and West- 
moreland. 



1. Crown-lands, lands directly retained by the 

king, and not held by vassals in flef. 

2. See pivgea IGG and 173. 

8. Islesmen. frgiu the Hebrides or M'osterr 
Islands. 



4. Galloway, the soutli-westernpart of Scotland, 
between the Firth of Clyde and the Solway 
Firth. 

.5. Northallerton, in the north of Yorkshire, 
27 miles north of York. 



THE CIVIL WAR. 183 



THE CIVIL WAR. 



WHEN Matilda, the daughter of King Henry, landed, 
England was already in terrible disorder. Not 
only the barons but many bishops and abbots had built 
strong castles, and in most cases the soldiers and fol- 
lowers of the feudal nobles were thieves and ruffians. 

The country was now also involved in civil war — the 
western counties supporting Matilda, while the eastern 
districts were in favour of Stephen. One battle was 
fought before Lincoln; but, as Stephen's army was inferior 
in numbers, and some of his supporters had gone over 
to the enemy, he was defeated. In one old history we 
read that, when his army was dispersed, " he ground his 
teeth with anger, foamed like a wild boar, and roared like 
a lion, so that none durst approach him, and with double- 
edged axe rushed alone on the enemy ; but his axe being 
broken and after that his sword, h^ was taken prisoner," 

Wiien Matilda at first landed, Stephen had allowed her 
to pass unmolested through his lines to join her half- 
brother, Robert of Gloucester, whose forces lay at Bristol.^ 
Now, however, that he was her prisoner, she sent him 
to a dungeon in Bristol Castle. She herself took posses- 
sion of the palace of Winchester, and of such royal 
treasure as still remained there. 

After entering Loudon, ^Matilda became worse liked than 
ever. She imposed a tax on the citizens as a punish- 
ment for having supported Stephen ; and, if there were 
any of the Londoners who had called themselves her 
friends, her haughty and vindictive " temper now changed 
them into bitter foes. She even insulted Queen Maud, 
the wife of Stephen, who waited on her to ask for her 
husband's release from prison. 



1 84 EARLY ENGLAND. 

She had not even time to be crowned. For, one day, 
there was seen on the south side of the Thames a body 
of horse displaying the colours of Stephen's queen ; 
•immediately all the bells of London began to ring and 
every citizen ran to arms, " gathering in the streets 
like bees rushing from their hives." The unpopular 
Matilda had to escape imprisonment by galloping at 
once out of London with very few attendants. 

Owing to Stephen's misrule and the civil war, the 
English people were brought to a state of misery such 
as you cannot read of in any other period of our nation's 
history. An eye-witness says that " multitudes left this 
country to wander in foreign lands, others built wretched 
huts in the churchyards ; " and that the barons and other 
petty tyrants " hanged men up by the feet, and smoked 
them with foul smoke ; they put strings about their 
heads, and twisted them till they went into the brain. 
Many thousands they afflicted with hunger. One might 
go a day's journey and never find a man sitting in a 
town ; the earth bare no corn. Men said openly that 
Christ and His saints slept." 

King Stephen being released from prison in exchange 
for the Earl of Gloucester, who had also been taken captive, 
his enemy Matilda was soon after shut up in Oxford. 
She had now no hope of obtaining the English crown, 
and knew well that, if she again fell into Stephen's power, 
he would not let her off so easily as he had done before. 

Therefore, one dark night just before Christmas, she 
stole out from the besieged town with only three atten- 
dants, all of them wearing white sheets or cloaks over 
their clothes, so that they miglit not be seen easily as 
they walked over the snow. In this way, they passed 
without being observed by the sentries on guard ; and 
following each other silently and quickly, they walked 



THE CIVIL WAR. 185 

across the snow-covered fields and over the frozen 
Thames. That night Queen Matilda walked more 
than six miles, with a wintry storm blowing in her face 
all the way. At length they reached Abingdon,^ and 
the same night rode on to Wallingford,^ which is about 
ten miles farther down the Thames. In the year 1 147, 
weary and hopeless, she finally left England. 




ESCAPE OF MATILDA. 

It was not till the year i i 5 3 that the misery of 
this reign came to an end. Henr}', the son of Matilda, 
had landed in England ; and an agreement was then 
made that Stephen should continue to reign, and that 
Henry should be king after him. 

1. Bristol, on the Lower Avon, in Gloucester. I 3. Abingdon, 6 miles south of Oxford. 

2. Vindictive, revensjeful. I *■ Wallingford, 12 miles soutli of Oxford. 



,S6 EARLY EXGLAXT). 



LIFE IN NORMAN ENGLAND. 

HOW the Normans became English. — Having read 
how William Duke of Normandy conquered Eng- 
land, and how he and his two sons and then his grand- 
son^ became kings of the country, we must now see how 
the change afiected the English people. 

Did the English, for example, learn to speak French 
as the Normans had done ? Not at all. When an 
Englishman went to the king's palace or to the great 
courts of law, he heard nothing but French spoken ; but 
that was not enough to make him unlearn his mother- 
tongue. It was the Normans who had to change their 
lansfuasre and to learn English." Englishmen of course 

O D Do 

used many Norman words, but the real language of 
everyday life was very little changed by the Conquest. 

When the Normans came to this country there were 
three languages spoken in it, and at the present day we 
find the same three still spoken. In Wales they speak 
Welsh, as they did when the Conqueror landed in Sus- 
sex ; in the Highlands of Scotland they still use Gaelic ; 
but over all the rest of England and Scotland the people 
speak English, and no use is anywhere made of Nor- 
man-French. 

So it was also with the names of the towns and 
villages, as well as those of the divisions of the country. 
The names of the shires in England and Scotland were 
all given to them before the Normans came, and the 
governor of a shire was a shire-reeve ^ — a word still pre- 
served in the form " sheriff." The Normans have gfiven 
the word " county " for shire ; but though they called a 
sheriff a viscount,'^ we never do so. 

a 



LIFE IN NORMAN ENGLAND. 1S7 

There were, however, many changes that were un- 
pleasant to the English at the time ; and thousands had 
good reason to grumble about the treatment they re- 
ceived at the hands of some of the great Norman lords. 
From the Domesday Book we know that many of the 
English landholders wei-e not deprived of their lands, 
and that the Normans held the estates given them by 
King William as English lords. Still, the new Nor- 
man masters for a long time had the best of it, and tlie 
English yeomen and others long felt the Norman rule 
very heavily. The people complained that the French 
lords had all the best land, cut down all the best forests, 
killed all the finest deer ; and said that England would 
never be England till she was rid of the Normans. 

The Norman Knights. — The Norman kings did 
many things which no other kings of England were 
allowed to do. William the Conqueror held that all the 
land in England belonged to him alone, and that he 
only divided it out among his great lords in order that 
they should lielp him with their men in any battle which 
he might have to fight. Each of those nobles again, 
the " tenants-in-chief" as they were called, similarly 
divided his estate among sub-vassals and knights in 
order to receive their help ; and thus the whole of Eng- 
land was obliged to furnish an army to fight for the 
king. This method of holding land, on condition that 
the holder must serve his superior lord, formed the 
basis of the Feudal ^ System . 

Under the Normans and their Feudal System, although 
the lords and barons were very unequal in power and 
importance, yet all were perfectly equal as knights. Any 
gentleman, however poor, had only to attain knight- 
hood, and receive his golden spurs, to be the peer of any 



1 88 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



duke or king in Cliristendom. Every candidate had to 
undergo the same training ; serving first as a page and 
then as an esquire to prove his manhood and courage, 
before attainino- to the honour of knio-hthood. 




THE c'i:i;i;.\iuNY of KMl;hti.\(J. 



A knight generally served as esquire for about seven 
years before he gained his spurs. When at last the day 
came there was a grand procession to a church where 



LIFE IN NORMAN ENGLAND. 



he had prayed and fasted ; and there he took a solemn 
oath to be loyal to his king, to defend the Church, and 
to be the champion of every lady in danger or distress. 
Some great warrior or high-born dame buckled on his 
spurs, put on his steel armour and helmet, and girded 
his sword to his side. Then, as he knelt, a nobleman, 
sometimes even the king or a prince, touched him on 
the shoulder with the flat of a sword and dubbed*^ him 
knight. In full armour as he was, the new knight had 
then to vault into his saddle, and gallop to and fro in 
sisfht of his friends and the assembled crowd. 



1. Two sons and grandson, 'WilUam II., Heiirj' 

I., .Steplien. 

2. Tlie original langiiase of the Normans was 

Scandinavian ; they had adopted the dia- 
lect of Northern France, called Langiie 
d'Oil. See page 148. 

3. While most of these classes of words are Saxon 

or ICnglish in origin, m:iny are Celtic or 
Danish. 

4. Visconut, i.e., vice-count. The count was the 



companion of the king, the uicc-coiuit oiio 
who took the place of count. Cf. vice-presi- 
dent, \iceroy. 

5 Feudal, relating to fiefs, feus, or portions cf 
land. 

6. Dabbed, atfirst meant tapped with the sword ; 
then it came to mean 'named' or 'called, 
because there was then given to the kneel- 
ing applicant the name of knight. 



LIFE IN NORMAN ENGLAND— continued. 

IN the reigns of William the Red King and his brother 
Henry, there were some curious customs. We see 
pictures of ladies who had sleeves so long that they must 
have touched the ground, unless the hands were held up. 
The men wore shoes with sharp points — some turning 
up like a serpent's tail, and others curling round like a 
ram's horn. It became such a fashion with tlie Norman 
noblemen and others to wear long hair tliat Archbishop 
Anselm preached against it ; and we are told that a 
French bishop one day went about the church after ser- 
mon to clip off the long locks of King Henry and his 
courtiers ! 

The early English, as you have already read, were 



I go 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



given to excess in eating and drinking. The Normans 
were more moderate, and in fact appear to have gene- 
rally had only two meals a day — dinner in the forenoon 
at nine o'clock, and supper in the afternoon at five 
o'clock. One proof of this is a common proverb which 
they had : — 

" To rise at five, to dine at nine, 
To sup at five, to bed at nine, 
Makes a man live to ninetj^-nine." 

Much improvement was made in farming during this 
period ; and for that we must praise the monks, who in- 
troduced new modes of drainage and husbandry from 
France. We read also of gardens and vineyards ; and 
one historian assures us that the wine grown in the Vale 
of Gloucester ^ " hath no disagreeable tartness in the 
mouth, and is very little inferior to the wines of France." 
So much armour was made during the Norman period 
that it led to great improvement in the working of 
metals. Hence we have specimens which show a great 
advance on the workmanship of previous times. One 
of the popes, at the close of the Norman period, was 
an Englishman ^ who had been bom near St. Albans ; ^ 
and we read that when the abbot there sent him two 
candlesticks made of gold and silver. Pope Adrian ^ de- 
clared in his letter of thaidvs that he had never seen 
workmanship so beautiful. The histoi-ian also fells us 
that the same abbot of St. Albans had a golden cup 
made, " which was adorned with flowers and foliage 
most delicately worked, and most elegantly set round 
with precious stones." 

Nobody can read the history of William the Con- 
queror and his successors without seeing that the Nor- 
mans were ea«"erlv fond of huntinar-. This fondness was 



LIFE IN NORMAN ENGLAND. 



191 



such a passion (as we have seen), that it led to cruel 
laws against the liberties of the people. And any man, 
whether English or Norman, found hunting the king's 
deer, was condemned to lose life or limb ; and if any dog 




A LADY HAWKING. 



was taken in the royal forests, it had one or more claws 
cut off, unless it were redeemed by the owner. 

Hunting witli hawks and falcons was still a favourite 
pastime in England, as it had long been before the land- 
ing of the Norman Duke. So fond had King Harold 
been of this pursuit, that some say his last journey to 



192 



EARLY ENGLAND. 



Normandy was to recover a favourite falcon which had 
flown in that direction from the south coast. On the 
famous Bayeux Tapestry,^ moreover, one can see that 
Harold carries a falcon on his wrist when visiting his 
Norman rival's court. 

The cliief amusement of military men in feudal times 
was the tournament; but neither William the Conqueror 




nor his immediate successors allowed this famous spectacle. 
Indeed, it was not till the end of the twelfth century 
that tournaments became really important in England. 



1. Gloucester, a ealliedral fity on the left bank 

(if tlie Severn. 

2. Nicholas Itreakspear, pope in 1154. lie was a 

Saxon, and his election imlicated that tlie 
En^j'lish race were recovering from tlie 
effects of the Conquest. 

3. St. Alban'i, in Hertforil, near the Colne, about 

\i miles west of tlie county town. It 
etauils on the sltort river Vcr. Cf. the old 
n^ime Verulamium. 



, Adrian, it is usual for the newly-elected piipo 
to clianfe'e his name ; thus Nichohis break- 
spear became Pope Adrian IV. 
Bayeux Tapestry, a representation in em- 
briiiiliry nf the Norman CoiKjuest. It, i.< 
supposed t(i liave been worked liy Matilda, 
wife of William the Conqueror, and was 
by herpresented to the cathedral ofBayeiix. 
Bayeux is ill Normandy. al)0ut '20 miles 
west of l':ii'n. 




